Krishna Devi v. State of U.P

Court No. - 66 Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. BAIL APPLICATION No. - 46497 of 2023 Applicant :- Krishna Devi Opposite Party :- State of U.P. Counsel for Applicant :- Anurag Kumar Pandey Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A. Hon'ble Ajay Bhanot,J. By means of the the bail application the applicant has prayed to be enlarged on bail in Case Crime No. 132 of 2023 at Police Station-Shahi, District-Bareilly under Sections 498A, 304B I.P.C. and Section 3/4 of Dowry Prohibition Act. The applicant is in jail since 10.08.2023. The bail application of the applicant was rejected by the learned trial court on 12.10.2023. The following arguments made by Shri Anurag Kumar Pandey, learned counsel on behalf of the applicant, which could not be satisfactorily refuted by Sri Shravan Kumar Mishra, learned AGA from the record, entitle the applicant for grant of bail:

¶1The applicant is the mother-in-law of the deceased.

¶2The applicant never harassed the deceased nor did she demand dowry.

¶3The deceased was a temperamental lady who was prone to extreme reactions over trivial issues.

¶4The relations of the deceased with her husband became strained because her husband had provided financial support to his elder brother.

¶5On the fateful day after disagreement with the aforesaid issue, she took the extreme step of committing suicide.

¶6The postmortem report opines the cause of death as asphyxia due to antemortem hanging.

¶7Injuries depicted in the postmortem report consistent with hanging are:

(i) Nature of ligature mark.

(ii) The hyoid bone was intact.

¶8The applicant did not aid or abet the suicide.

¶9Prosecution evidence do not connect the applicant with the offence.

¶10The prerequisites for attracting the presumption and the reversing the burden of proof are not established in the facts and circumstances and evidence of the case.

¶11The applicant does not have any criminal history apart from the instant case.

¶12The applicant is not flight risk. The applicant being law abiding citizen have always cooperated with the investigation and undertakes to join the trial proceedings. There is no possibility of their influencing witnesses, tampering with the evidence or reoffending. In the light of the preceding discussion and without making any observations on the merits of the case, the bail application is allowed. Let the applicant-Krishna Devi be released on bail in the aforesaid case crime number, on furnishing a personal bond and two sureties each in the like amount to the satisfaction of the court below. The following conditions be imposed in the interest of justice:-

(i) The applicant will not tamper with the evidence or influence any witness during the trial.

(ii) The applicant will appear before the trial court on the date fixed, unless personal presence is exempted. Order Date :- 2.11.2023 Jaswant High Court of Judicature at Allahabad