Single Judge Court allowed bail for the applicant sisters-in-law accused of dowry-related offences including under Section 498-A and 304-B IPC, accepting that they were falsely implicated, had no criminal history, and co-accused were already on bail.
Released on bail by furnishing a personal bond and two sureties each subject to standard conditions.
This page shows the compact analysis of this judgement. The full analysis — procedural history, issue-by-issue holdings with ratio and obiter, advocates, and paragraph-level evidence for every claim — is being added to the record in batches and will appear here when this judgement has been through it.
Court No. - 77
Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. BAIL APPLICATION No. - 17036 of 2019
Applicant :- Urmila Devi And Another Opposite Party :- State Of U.P. Counsel for Applicant :- Dileep Kumar Pandey Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.
Hon'ble Aniruddha Singh,J.
Heard learned counsel for the applicants, learned A.G.A. for the State and perused the record.
According to prosecution case, F.I.R. was lodged by the informant against five accused persons namely, Gangasagar Verma (father-in-law), Shivbahadur Verma (husband), Triloki Verma, Urmila Devi and Arti alleging that the marriage of deceased Kiran was solemnized with Shivbahadur on 31.5.2017, they demanded dowry as motorcycle from the deceased for which the deceased was being tortured by them and on 15/16.9.2017 they killed her. According to postmortem report, cause of death was found asphyxia due to antemortem hanging.
It is submitted by learned counsel for the applicants that applicants are ladies and sister-in-laws (jethani) deceased. Co-accused namely, Triloki Verma and Ganga Sagar Verma have already been granted bail by co-ordinate Bench of this Court. The applicants are innocent and have been falsely implicated in the present case. There is general allegations against the applicants. There is no independent witness and no legal evidence against the applicants. Offences levelled against the applicants are not attracted in the present matter. They have no concern with the demand of dowry and they are not beneficiary of the same. Applicants have no concern with deceased and her husband. They are living separately. Deceased has committed suicide herself. They are languishing in jail since 1.4.2019 having no criminal history and in case they are released on bail, they will not misuse the liberty of bail and will cooperate in trial.
Learned A.G.A. opposed the prayer for bail but could not dispute the aforesaid fact as argued by learned counsel for the applicants and admitted that applicants have no criminal history.
Considering the submission of learned counsel for the parties, facts of the case, nature of allegation and period of custody, gravity of offence, without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case, the Court is of the opinion that it is a fit case for bail. Hence, the bail application is hereby allowed.
Let the applicants Urmila Devi and Arati Devi involved in Case No. 146-A of 2018 arising out of Case Crime No. 866 of 2017, under Sections 498-A, 304-B IPC and Section 3/4 Dowry Prohibition Act, P.S. Sahatwar, District Ballia be released on bail on furnishing a personal bond and two sureties each in the like amount to the satisfaction of the court concerned subject to following conditions:
2.The applicants will not pressurize/ intimidate the prosecution witness.
3.The applicants will appear before the trial court on the date fixed, unless personal presence is exempted.
4.The applicants shall not commit an offence similar to the offence of which they are accused, or suspected, of the commission of which they are suspected.
5.The applicants shall not directly or indirectly make any inducement, threat or promise to any person acquainted with the facts of the case so as to dissuade them from disclosing such facts to the Court or to any police officer or tamper with the evidence.
In case of breach of any of the above conditions, the court below shall be at liberty to cancel the bail.
Order Date :- 24.4.2019 A. Singh
3 issues framed by the court
Whether the bail application filed by the alleged co-accused in a dowry death case deserves to be allowed.
Whether the condition that co-accused have already been granted bail and suffer no criminal history is sufficient for granting bail.
Whether the court should form an opinion on the merits of the case while deciding the bail application.
3 provisions across 2 enactments
Urmila Devi And Another
Aniruddha Singh
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
