JUDGMENT

Mr. Rajesh Bhardwaj, J. (Oral)

Prayer in the present petition is for grant of bail to the petitioner in case FIR No.67 dated 30.04.2021, under Section 302 , 34 of the INDIAN PENAL CODE , registered at Police Station Sangat, District Bathinda.

2. Adumbrated facts of the case are that Prakash Singh @ Passi got recorded his statement wherein it was alleged that he had four daughters and one son. His daughter namely, Sukhpreet Kaur was about 30 years of age and married to Hardial Singh @ Najam (petitioner) about 15 years ago. Out of the wedlock, they were blessed with two daughters who are of the age of 12 years and 04 years old. There normally used to remain a dispute between husband and wife and for resolving the same, number of times, the Panchayats were convened but the dispute could not be resolved. A day before the occurrence, his daughter had come to them and told that her in-laws i.e. mother-in-law and husband persistently kept on harassing her. In the evening Hardial Singh @ Najam took his daughter on motorcycle and while returning, he threatened her that he would not spare her. On 30.04.2021, some one from the village Gheri Buttar informed that the dead body of his daughter is hanging in the room of her matrimonial home. On hearing the same, they rushed to the matrimonial home of his daughter and found his daughter hanging from the ceiling fan. It was alleged that his daughter was strangulated by Hardial Singh @ Najam in connivance with his mother Baldev Kaur and her dead body was hanging from the fan in order to show it to be a case of suicide. Prayer was made to register the FIR and take legal action against the culprits. On the basis of the complaint, FIR was registered and investigation commenced. Petitioner was arrested on 01.05.2021. He approached the Court of learned Additional Sessions Judge, Bathinda praying for grant of bail. However, after hearing counsel for both the sides, learned Additional Sessions Judge declined the same vide his order dated 31.10.2022. Aggrieved by the same, petitioner is before this Court praying for grant of regular bail.

3. It has been vehemently contended by counsel for the petitioner that the petitioner was married with the deceased about 15 years ago. He submits that except the bald allegations made by the complainant who is the father-in-law of the petitioner, there is no evidence to substantiate that the petitioner had ever harassed the deceased. He has submitted that the dispute between the husband and wife are normal wear and tear of the matrimonial life and the same was not sufficient to lodge the case of murder against the petitioner. He has submitted that the allegations are totally false and fabricated. He has further submitted that the deceased committed suicide by hanging which is evident from the allegations made in the FIR. To buttress his arguments, he has submitted that the postmortem of the deceased was conducted and as per the opinion, the doctors ascertained the cause of death to be Asphyxia due to hanging. He has submitted that the (Oral) version of the prosecution witnesses is not medically corroborated and thus, the petitioner is being prosecuted for the offence under Section 302 IPC without there being any basis. He has submitted that at the most, the case of the prosecution is for the offence under Section 306 IPC and by no stretch of imagination, the same can be said to be the offence under Section 302 IPC. He submits that the petitioner has no criminal antecedents and out of total prosecution witnesses, two material witnesses already stand examined. He submits that the petitioner is behind bars from the last about two years and thus, he