Court No. - 79
Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. BAIL APPLICATION No. - 38524 of 2019 Applicant :- Smt. Manju Chauhan Opposite Party :- State Of U.P.
Counsel for Applicant :- Manu Khare,Vikram D. Chauhan Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.
Hon'ble Ram Krishna Gautam,J.
Heard Sri Manu Khare, Vikram D. Chauhan, learned counsels for the applicant, learned A.G.A. appearing for the State and perused the averments made in the first information report and rejection order.
It has been contended by learned counsel for applicant that applicant is mother-in-law of the deceased. In fact, the reality is that the son of the applicant namely Anukalp Chauhan fell in love with the deceased and both of them solemnized marriage against the wishes of their parents on 15.3.2019. The applicant's son and the deceased were living separately at Noida. After few days, applicant's son learnt that his wife is suffering from severe ailments and the doctors of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) were also consulted on 26.3.2019. The doctors diagnosed it to be a case of tuberclomas and ultimately on account of said ailment she died while in the aforesaid hospital on 10.8.2019. In this behalf, death certificate issued by the Medical Superintendent (AIIMS) has been annexed as Annexure-19 to the affidavit. It is stated that prima facie it appears to be a case of natural death, besides it there is no occasion for the applicant or other family members to make any illegal demand from the deceased. The matter needs deeper and fairer investigation before any arrest should be given effect to. The applicant has no other reported criminal antecedents, therefore, the applicant may be enlarged on anticipatory bail.
Per contra, learned A.G.A. has strongly opposed the prayer for bail and submitted that the demand of dowry was made not only by the applicant but also by his other family members. In fact, on 5.8.2019 the deceased was in good health and on account of torture being meted out by the applicant and other family members she developed some ailments in her head. He has also argued that domestic violence was also committed upon her by her husband and other family members. Lastly, he has emphasized that when the condition of the deceased become precarious on 5.8.2019 in Kasganj at the house of the applicant, no treatment was given to her in a nearby hospital and she was made to travel 200 Kms and was got admitted in the AIIMS on account of which his condition became more precarious and she died. However, he could not dispute that the death of the deceased was a natural one and even in the postmortem report no antemortem injury has been noted.
Without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case, considering the nature of accusation and the fact that he has no criminal antecedents, the applicant is entitled to be released on anticipatory bail in this case.
In the event of arrest of the applicant-Smt. Manju Chauhan involved in Case Crime No. 521 of 2019, under Sections 498- A, 304-B, 201, 120-B I.P.C. and 3/4 D.P. Act, Police Station- Kasganj, District- Kasganj, she shall be released on anticipatory bail till the submission of police report, if any, under section 173 (2) Cr.P.C. before the competent Court on his furnishing a personal bond of Rs.25,000/- with two sureties each in the like amount to the satisfaction of the Station House Officer of the police station concerned with the following conditions:-
(i) the applicant shall make herself available for interrogation by a police officer as and when required;
(ii) the applicant shall not directly or indirectly, make any inducement, threat or promise to any person acquainted with the facts of the case so as to dissuade him from disclosing such facts to the Court or to any police officer;
(iii) the applicant shall not leave India without the previous permission of the Court and if she has passport the same shall be deposited by her before the S.S.P./S.P. concerned.
In default of any of the conditions, the Investigating Officer is at liberty to file appropriate application for cancellation of anticipatory bail granted to the applicant.
The Investigating Officer is directed to conclude the investigation of the present case in accordance with law expeditiously preferably within a period of three months from the date of production of a certified copy of this order independently without being prejudice by any observation made by this Court while considering and deciding the present anticipatory bail application of the applicant.
The applicant is directed to produce a certified copy of this order before the S.S.P./S.P. concerned within ten days from today, who shall ensure the compliance of present order.
The present Criminal Misc. Anticipatory Bail Application is, accordingly, allowed.
Order Date :- 27.9.2019 NS