NARAYAN PRASAD Vs. STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS Criminal Appeal has been placed before this Full Bench on a reference made by a Division Bench of this Court (Gwalior Bench) comprising of Dr. T. N. Singh and S. K. Dubey, JJ, on the controversy which surfaced on account of an earlier Division Bench decision of this Court (main-seat) rendered in State of M.P. v. Chandrahas, 1991 MPLJ 779 and a decision of the Apex Court in Shahzad Hasan Khan v. Ishtiaq Hasan Khan, AIR 1987 SC 1613, on the question of disposal of successive bail applications, by the same Judge or Bench as the case may be which according to the referring Division Bench are conflicting to the decisions requiring determination of the point in controversy by a Larger Bench as the referring Bench did not agree with the view expressed by the Division Bench of this Court in Chandrahas (supra).

(2.) THE Division Bench making a reference has not precisely put the controversy in the form of a question to be resolved by this Full Bench. However, this controversy would be clear from the facts as they emerge from the order of reference and material on record which we are stating hereinafter.

(3.) WHEN this reference was placed before this Bench, we issued S.P.C. twice to Shri J. P. Gupta and Shri R. K. Sharma, learned counsel appearing for the appellant and complainant respectively in this Criminal Appeal at Gwalior Bench, but they did not appear. We, therefore, requested Shri Surendra Singh, a Senior Counsel of this Court, to act as amicus curiae to assist the Court, who readily accepted and rendered his valuable assistance for which we are thankful to, him. Shri Surendra Singh, learned counsel, argued that there is absolutely no conflict in the decisions referred to in the referring order and both prevail in their respective fields covered by them. Shri Dilip Naik, learned Deputy Advocate General, appearing for the State, also agreed with the said arguments.