Jitendra Kumar v. State(Nct of Delhi)

TALWANT SINGH, J JULY 18, 2022 pa

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* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI % Order pronounced on 18.07.2022 + BAIL APPLN. 737/2022 JITENDRA KUMAR ..... Petitioner Through: Ms. Radhika Arora and Mr. Piyush Kumar, Advocates. versus STATE (NCT OF DELHI) ..... Respondent Through: Ms. Meenakshi Chauhan, APP for State with Insp. C.P. Singh, PS Geeta Colony. Ms. Gunjan Sinha Jain, Advocate for R-2/complainant. CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE TALWANT SINGH Talwant Singh, J.: 1. The petitioner has prayed for grant of anticipatory bail in case FIR No. 651/2021 under Section 498A/304B/34 IPC, registered at PS Geeta Colony, Delhi. 1.2. It ha been submitted that the petitioner is the father-in-law of deceased Priyanka, who died on 22.11.2021, while she was staying at her parental house in Delhi. 1.3. It is pertinent to note that the petitioner is a permanent resident of Bagpat, Uttar Pradesh. 1.4. The bail has been prayed on the grounds that the present case is misuse of process of law; even if entire allegations mentioned in the FIR are accepted for the sake of arguments, even then no offence is made out because the victim was having strong suicidal tendencies and this fact was duly accepted by the complainant and the deceased was under treatment from psychiatrist at IHBAS Hospital and RML Hospital; the fact regarding the mental condition as well as treatment of the deceased got verified by the investigating agency when the anticipatory bail of the applicant was pending before the learned ASJ and the basic ingredients of offence under Section 304B IPC are missing in the present case as there are no specific allegations of demand of dowry by any of the alleged accused persons and the said demand is ought to be alleged soon before the death of the deceased but in the present case, there is no allegation of demand of dowry or harassment to the victim for the alleged demands. 1.5 It has been further alleged that there are no specific allegations against the present applicant. The complainant has tried to implicate not only the entire family of the husband of the deceased but also independent persons, who are well-wishers of both the sides. 1.6 The applicant was not present at the spot of alleged incident as he was living in his native village along with his wife. 1.7. It has been submitted that the petitioner is not required for any custodial interrogation as nothing is to be recovered from him. The applicant has already joined investigation as and when directed by the IO and is further willing to join the investigation, if so required. The applicant is stated to be an old person, aged about 63 years and suffering from breathing problem and old-age ailments. He has deep roots in the society and there are no chances of the accused fleeing from the country. 1.8 Petitioner undertakes to comply with any conditions to be imposed by this Court and the petitioner has clean antecedents and he undertakes to appear before the learned Trial Court as and when directed. 2. Notice was issued. Status report has been filed. 2.1 It has been mentioned in the status report that on 22.11.2021 an information was received from Dr. Hedgewar Hospital and ASI Satpal Singh rushed there and collected MLC No. 2836/2021, in which opinion of the Doctor was regarding consumption of unknown poisonous substance around two hours back and the patient was declared dead. 2.2 The marriage of the deceased was solemnized on 28.02.2019, so, SDM, Gandhi Nagar was informed and recorded the statement of the parents of the deceased. 2.3 It was stated by them that the deceased Priyanka was married to Mr. Manish Kaushik, son of the present petitioner on 28.02.2019. After marriage, Manish started demanding money from Priyanka as she was a working woman. 2.4 A child was born on 09.10.2020 and all the expenses were borne by Priyanka. She started living with her husband in Greater Noida, where she was subjected to frequent physical assault by her husband due to demand of dowry. Manish is stated to be a habitual drinker. 2.5 From