Court No. - 45
Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. BAIL APPLICATION No. - 8280 of 2019 Applicant :- Harendra Gupta Alias Ram Sajile Gupta Opposite Party :- State Of U.P. Counsel for Applicant :- K.K.Rao Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.
Hon'ble Harsh Kumar,J.
Heard learned counsel for applicant, learned AGA for the State and perused the record.
Learned counsel for applicant contended that applicant has been falsely implicated for dowry death with general allegations being father-in-law of deceased; that as per averments made in F.I.R. lodged by Ram Pyare Gupta, his daughter Sarita was married to Rahul Gupta on 21.5.2016 and on 11.8.2018 at about 1:00 p.m. he got an information that her dowry death has been committed by hanging; that applicant was living separately and copy of family register at Annexure No.8 shows that applicant was living in house no.5-A, while husband of deceased was living in house no.5-B; that deceased appears to have committed suicide by hanging herself and in inquest report, it has been opined by panch witnesses that it appears to be a case of hanging, however postmortem be ascertained and the postmortem report states that deceased died due to asphyxia as a result of ante mortem injuries; that except ligature marks, there is no other external injury on the body of deceased; that on fateful day, applicant along with his wife had gone to duty in pulse polio programme and after a quarrel with deceased, her husband had left to river for fishing and deceased was at house along with Manish, handicapped son of applicant; that since deceased committed suicide by hanging herself, so applicant may not be held guilty for her dowry death; that no specific role has been assigned to applicant regarding demand of dowry or treating deceased with cruelty for non-fulfilment of demand of dowry; that applicant neither made any demand of dowry nor treated deceased with cruelty for non-fulfilment of demand of dowry; that applicant has no criminal history; that applicant undertakes that he will not misuse liberty of bail; that applicant is in custody since 29.8.2018.
Learned A.G.A. vehemently opposed the prayer of bail in this case of dowry death within 7 years of marriage and contended that applicant is the head of family; that contents of para 24 of affidavit given in support of bail application are wrong and it is wrong to say that on fateful day, applicant along with his wife had gone for pulse polio programme and husband of deceased was out for fishing; that it is absolutely wrong to say that applicant was living separately and family register itself shows that applicant and his son as well as deceased were living in one and same house in different portions marked as 5-A & 5-B; that in above family register, Manish is shown to be residing in house no.5-A, while in para 24, applicant has stated that deceased was with Manish at the time of incident and so it is very much clear that house is one and same; that postmortem report of deceased show that hyoid bone of deceased was fractured and ligature mark does not carry any gap, which shows that she was strangulated to death by more than one person; that soon before her death deceased was being treated with cruelty in connection with non-fulfillment of demand of dowry and her death has taken place due to asphyxia as a result of ante mortem injuries otherwise than under normal circumstances within seven years of marriage and there is presumption of dowry death against applicant under section 113(B) of Indian Evidence Act.
Upon hearing learned counsel for the parties, perusal of record and considering the complicity of accused, severity of punishment as well as totality of facts and circumstances, at this stage without commenting on the merits of the case, I do not find it a fit case for bail. The bail application of applicant Harendra Gupta Alias Ram Sajile Gupta in case crime no.115 of 2018, under sections 304-B IPC and 3/4 Dowry Prohibition Act, P.S. Uruwa Bazar, District Gorakhpur, is rejected accordingly.
Order Date :- 27.2.2019 Tamang