The court granted bail under Section 439 Cr.P.C. due to prolonged incarceration and insufficient evidence of cruelty linked to the cause of death.

ORDER :

Farjand Ali, J.

The jurisdiction of this Court has been invoked by way of filing an application under Section 439 Cr.P.C. at the instance of accused-petitioner. The requisite details of the matter are tabulated herein below:

2. It is contended on behalf of the accused-petitioner that no case for the alleged offences is made out against him and his incarceration is not warranted. There are no factors at play in the case at hand that may work against grant of bail to the accused-petitioner and he has been made an accused based on conjectures and surmises.

3. Contrary to the submissions of learned counsel for the petitioner, learned Public Prosecutor opposes the bail application and submits that the present case is not fit for enlargement of accused on bail.

4. Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the challan paper and the other material made available to this Court.

5. The first bail application of the petitioner was dismissed by this Court as not pressed vide order dated 22.01.2024 and at the same time he was permitted to renew the prayer after the statement of first informant is recorded in the trial. Now, first informant Anand has been examined in the trial as PW-1 who happens to be brother of the deceased.

6. It is emanating from the material available on record that the petitioner is the husband of the deceased whose marriage was solemnized with her on 29.11.2020 and the bride ended her life at her matrimonial home on 22.07.2023. There are omnibus allegations that the petitioner subjected the deceased to cruelty for bringing insufficient dowry and for demanding some more amount and a motorcycle. The marriage subsisted for a period of three years. The prosecution witnesses have alleged in an unequivocal terms that the petitioner and all other family members were involved in meting out cruelty to the deceased, as a consequence of which, she ended her life. However, after conducting thorough investigation, it was opined by the Investigating Agency that the other persons were not responsible in any manner with regard to the cruel behaviour and death of the deceased, therefore, they were absolved from the charges and the charge-sheet came to be submitted only against the petitioner.

7. As on date, tentatively, it can be assumed that a major part of the allegations regarding cruelty meted out to the deceased by other family members of the petitioner has been belied. No application either under Sections 190 or 193 or 391 of the Cr.P.C. has been preferred on behalf of the prosecution to arraign the other persons exonerated by the police. A perusal of statement of Anand (PW-1) revealing that for long 3 years, the petitioner and the deceased spent marital status and a discord had erupted in between the spouses on account of some other aspects also including the elopement of a minor girl of the petitioner family in which allegation of deceased being instrumental were leveled. Some allegations regarding theft of ornaments can also be traced from the testimony of PW-1.

8. As on date, the submission raised on behalf of the petitioner can be taken into account that the cause behind the death of the deceased was not the cruel behaviour on part of the petitioner or in connection with demand of dowry, rather the cause behind ending her life was altogether different. The petitioner is behind the bars since long and trial would still take a long time further incarceration or the petitioner would not be required. There is high probability that the trial may take long time to conclude. In light of these facts and circumstances, it