The Madhya Pradesh High Court on Wednesday has granted anticipatory bail to three persons accused for torturing & harassing a woman who had committed suicide in 2016 & the FIR was registered after three years in 2019, on the basis of her dying declaration.
A single judge bench of Justice Nandita Dubey heard an application under Section 438 of Cr.P.C. for grant of anticipatory bail by persons apprehending arrest for offence punishable under apprehending arrest Section 306/34 of the IPC, after their bail application being rejected by the trial court in January 2020.
The applicants face the allegation of torturing and harassing the wife of one of the applicants, on account of which she had committed suicide.
The applicants contended that the incident happened in 2016 and the FIR has been registered after a period of three years on 20.06.2019. They also added that neither did the parents of the deceased nor any of her maternal relatives made any complaint before the police authority regarding the harassment or the cruel treatment by her in-laws.
The Counsel on behalf of the State submitting even though there are no criminal antecedents against them, the FIR has been lodged based on the dying declaration given by the deceased in the hospital. He informed the Court that the deceased was brought in burned condition to the hospital by her husband.
Justive Nandita Dubey said, “Considering that the incident is of the year 2016 and the FIR was lodged after a period of three years and in the meantime the parents or the brothers/sisters of the deceased have not lodged any complaint regarding any cruel treatment or harassment given to the deceased by the present applicants and also considering the statement of the deceased in the dying declaration that she has previously lodged complaints regarding the cruelty of her in-laws has not been found proved on enquiry, and also considering the affidavits given by the children of the deceased, I find present to be a fit case to enlarge the applicants on anticipatory bail, therefore, without expressing on the merits of the case, this application is allowed.”
“It is directed that in the event of arrest, applicants No.1 Smt. Prabha Sharma, No.2 Smt. Meena Sharma, and No.3 Neeraj Sharma shall be released on bail on their furnishing a personal bond in a sum of Rs. 50,000/- (Rs. Fifty Thousand only) each with one surety in the like amount to the satisfaction of arresting officer,” said the Court.
Read the order here;
MCRC-6241-2020-FinalOrder-17-Jun-2020-India Legal Bureau