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BOMBAY HIGH COURT - BENCH AT AURANGABAD
SMT.VIBHA KANKANWADI, J
AHEMAD SHAHA MAQBOOL SHAHA – Appellant
Versus
SALIM IBRAHIM SHAHA AND ANR – Respondent
APPLICATION FOR CANCELLATION OF BAIL NO.95 OF 2021 | APPLICATION FOR CANCELLATION OF BAIL NO.96 OF 2021



Advocates:
For the Appellants/Petitioners: Mr. S. P. Tilve, A. S. Tilve
For the Respondents: Mr. A.P.Avhad, Shaikh Ashraf Patel, Mr. V. M. Kagne

Bail can be canceled if prior orders ignore evidence or result in miscarriage of justice; discretion must be judiciously exercised in serious allegations.

Headnote:(A) Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 - Section 439(2) - Application for cancellation of bail - Original informant alleged the husband’s involvement in dowry-related harassment leading to the death of the deceased - Previous marriage record and allegations of assault considered, but anticipatory bail granted despite potential evidence - The court emphasized reviewing the lower court's discretion in granting bail. (Paras 2, 3, 6, 7)

(B) Bail - Cancellation - Bail can be canceled if it results in miscarriage of justice due to failure to consider relevant facts or reliance on irrelevant materials - The court must exercise discretion judiciously with regard to nature of offenses and potential for witness tampering or fleeing from justice. (Paras 4, 7)

Facts of the case:
The informant alleged that the deceased faced frequent harassment for dowry and was found hanging shortly after reported incidents of domestic violence, invoking Sections 304B, 498A IPC. Issues of bail and anticipatory bail for those allegedly involved were central to the application.

Findings of Court:
The court reinforced the importance of establishing a prima facie case regarding involvement before granting bail - Since the investigation was deemed complete and specific allegations against non-respondents were lacking, bail was upheld.

Issues: The primary issues involved assessing the adequacy of evidence for granting bail amidst serious allegations and the standard for bail cancellation.

Ratio Decidendi: The court emphasized that bail should not be granted without sufficiently considering relevant evidence and circumstances surrounding the alleged offenses and past behavior of the accused. Discretion must be exercised with care given the gravity of the allegations.

Result: Application rejected.

Table of Content
1. applications challenging bail granted under dowry-related allegations (Para 1 , 2 , 3)
2. arguments regarding insufficiency of evidence and circumstances for granting bail (Para 4 , 5)
3. court's considerations on judicial discretion and evidential matters regarding bail (Para 6 , 7 , 8)

ORDER :

1. Both the applications have been filed by the original informant under Section 439 (2) of Cr.P.C .

2. The respondent No.1 in ACB No.95 of 2021 is the husband of the deceased, whereas the respondents in ACB No.96 of 2021 are the brothers-in-law, father-in-law, mother-in-law of the deceased. The present applicant/original informant lodged the FIR vide Crime No.312 of 2020 with Bidkin Police Station, Aurangabad Rural, District Aurangbad, on 03-12-2020 against THE respective respondents under Section 304B, 498A, 323, 504 r.w.34 of IPC. Learned Additional Sessions Judge, Aurangabad granted bail under Section 439 of Cr.P.C . in Bail Application No.233 of 2021 to the respondent husband Salim on 24-02-2021 and as regards the other respondents are concerned, they were granted anticipatory bail in Cri.Bail Appln.No.1918 of 2020 on 17-12-2020. These are the orders under challenge in these applications.

3. It has been vehemently submitted on behalf of the applicant/informant that the learned Additional Sessions Judge has not considered the criteria which are required to be considered for grant of bail application. The husband used to assault deceased Sana intentionally so as to compel her to bring dowry. There was specific demand of dowry and prima facie involvement could be seen from the evidence that was collected, still husband was granted bail. It was also on record that Sana expired in the custody of husband. She was found hanging at about 05.45 a.m. on 03-12-2020. The demand of dowry was to the extent of amount of Rs.1 lakh. In fact, Salim had married twice earlier and it was his third marriage. The harassment was on the count of dowry as well as the fact that she was unable to cook food. There was assault on the deceased by husband on the earlier day i.e. 02-12-2020 in presence of daughter- in-law of the informant. When it was unnatural death and even the learned Additional Sessions Judge has opined that there appears to be involvement of the accused, still by imposing stringent conditions, the application has been allowed, which is illegal.

4. The learned Advocate for the applicant relied on the decision in Dr. Naresh Kumar Mangla Vs. Anita Agarwal and Others , reported in 2020 SCC OnLine SC 1031. The three Judges Bench of Hon’ble Apex Court in the case wherein also the offence were under Section 498A, 304B, 323, 506 and 313 of IPC as well as Section 3/4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, considered the documents on record as the charge-sheet was filed and taken note of decision in, Myakala Dharmarajam Vs. The State of Telangana , reported in (2020) 2 SCC 743 , wherein it has been held that :-

“It is trite law that cancellation of bail can be done in cases where the order granting bail suffers from serious infirmities resulting in miscarriage of justice. If the court granting bail ignores relevant material indicating prima facie involvement of the Accused or takes into account irrelevant material, which has no relevance to the question of grant of bail to the Accused, the High Court or the Sessions Court would be justified in cancelling the bail.”

Further the note has been taken of the decision in Gurbaksh Singh Sibbia Vs. State of Punjab , reported in [(1980) 2 SCC 565], wherein the distinction between an ordinary order of bail and an order of anticipatory bail, is considered.

The decision by Constitution Bench in Sushila Aggarwal vs State (NCT Of Delhi), reported in 2020 (5) SCC 1 , wherein it has been reiterated that :-

“While considering an application for grant of anticipatory bail, the Court has to consider the nature of the ofence, the role of the person, the likelihood of his influencing the course of inveestigation or t

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