The presumption of innocence, the right to liberty, and the need to secure the presence of the accused for trial were central legal principles established in the judgment.

JUDGMENT :

1. Petitioner/accused in terms of section 437 of Code of Criminal Procedure has sought the indulgence of this court for her enlargement on bail in case FIR No. 05/2021 for commission of offence u/s 304-B of IPC of Police Station Samba. It is averred, that petitioner/accused is a citizen of India and permanent resident of UT of Jammu and Kashmir, therefore, fully entitled to the protection of her fundamental rights including the right of freedom and liberty; that the petitioner/accused has been wrongly and falsely implicated in FIR No. 05/2021 registered with Police Station Samba for commission of offence punishable under Section 304B IPC; that the allegations against the petitioner/accused are that she and other co accused were alleged to have mentally and physically harassed the victim who was the sister-in-law of the petitioner (real brother's wife) which compelled her to take extreme step of committing suicide; that the petitioner happens to be the sister-in-law (nanad) of the deceased and was living at her matrimonial home situated at Hiranagar District Kathua with her husband and minor kid of four years of age, whereas, the deceased at the time of her death was living at her matrimonial home which is situated at Samba, thus, at the relevant time when the alleged suicide was committed by the deceased, the petitioner was not living at Samba. It is moreso averred, that after the registration of aforesaid FIR against the husband of the deceased, her brother-in-law and sister-in-law were arrested, during the course of investigation the petitioner was also arrested on 26.03.2021 and since then she is facing incarceration in jail; that on completion of investigation, a criminal challan titled UT of J&K vs. Abhishek Badyal and others has been presented which is pending trial before the Court of Ld. Principal Sessions Judge Samba; that the petitioner, after filing of the criminal challan, applied for grant of bail by fling an application before the Court of Ld. Principal Sessions Judge Samba on 03.11.2021 on the basis of evidence which has been recorded in the challan wherein it has come on record that there are no serious allegations against the petitioner nor the allegations leveled against her in the criminal challan are primarily believable; that the bail application filed by the petitioner was opposed by the prosecution and the Ld. Trial Court after considering the bail application filed by the petitioner and the objections filed by the prosecution has passed the order dated 15.12.2021 whereby the bail application filed by the petitioner has been rejected; that the relatives of the victim have also been falsely implicated in the aforesaid criminal case as is the tendency in such like cases of involving married daughters, the petitioner being a married woman was happily living with her husband and minor kid about 30 kms. away from the matrimonial home of the deceased and has nothing to do with the alleged suicide committed deceased; that a mere cursory look to the challan, copy whereof is enclosed herewith as Annexure-1, clearly shows that even the ingredients of section 304-B IPC have not been made out and despite that and coupled with the fact that there is no allegation against the petitioner which prima facie connects her with the commission of offence punishable section 304-B IPC; that the petitioner is facing incarceration in jail for the last about 9 months by now and her minor son aged about 4 years has been denied and deprived of the love and affection of her mother, the denial of bail to the petitioner by the Ld. Trial Court on the ground that minor son can be taken care of by his father is absolutely unreasonable inasmuch as the love and affection of mother cannot be replaced by the care of the father who has also to work for earning the livelihood of his family; that the petitioner continues to be in custody since 26th March, 2021, the other co-accused persons in the aforesaid criminal challan have alread