Bombay High Court
Milind Govind Patil vs The State Of Maharashtra on 15 January, 2019
Author: Mangesh S. Patil
Bench: Mangesh S. Patil
1 BA.1555-18.odt
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
BENCH AT AURANGABAD
10 BAIL APPLICATION NO.1555 OF 2018
Milind Govind Patil,
Age : 39 years, Occu. Labour,
R/o Saptashringi Colony, Mehrun,
Tq. & Dist. Jalgaon. ... Applicant
Versus
The State of Maharashtra ... Respondent
...
Mr. S.S.Jadhav, Advocate for Applicant
Mr. S.P.Deshmukh, APP for Respondent-State
...
CORAM : MANGESH S. PATIL, J.
DATE : 15.01.2019
PER COURT :-
This is an application for bail under Section 439 of
the Cr.P.C. by one of the accused from Crime No.257 of
2018 registered with M.I.D.C. Police Station, Jalgaon for
the offences punishable under Sections 302, 506 read
with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code.
2. Shortly stated the prosecution case is to the effect
that the deceased was the wife of the brother of the
present applicant. She was being harassed and insisted
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that she should bring back the gold bangles which she
had kept with her father. It is alleged that on that
count, she was forcibly administered poison and she
died while she was cohabiting with the applicant and
other in-laws.
3. According to the prosecution, she had written a
note which she had forwarded to her uncle specifically
alleging about in-laws having administered her poison.
The incident had taken place in the night intervening
21.09.2018 and 22.09.2018. She was taken to Ganpati
Hospital, Jalgaon where she breathed her last on the
same day at 7.30 a.m. The doctor reported the matter to
police. Accidental Death Case was registered. The
inquiry was conducted. Her brother Bhausaheb
thereafter lodged the FIR alleging that the deceased had
made an oral dying declaration and had told him about
her father-in-law, brother-in-law i.e. the applicant
having caught hold her hands, her mother-in-law having
caught hold her legs and the husband having
administered poison to her and thereafter she went to
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the next room, wrote a chit which she had sent on a
WhatsApp to her uncle. The crime was registered. The
applicant was arrested on 22.09.2018 and is now
claiming bail, after filing of the charge-sheet.
4. The learned advocate for the applicant submits
that accepting the chit at its face value it does not
specifically attribute any overt act to the applicant
muchless about he having caught hold her hands with
her father-in-law facilitating her husband to administer
her poison. It is only by way of improvement that the
informant and few other witnesses are coming with an
oral dying declaration pointing out even the role played
by the present applicant. It is submitted that the in-
laws themselves had admitted her in the hospital. She
herself had given the history. The record of the Ganpati
Hospital, Jalgaon clearly reads the history about
consumption of poison. At this juncture, except such
improved version in the FIR and the statements of some
of the witnesses, there is absolutely no material to
prima facie show that the applicant had any grudge
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against the deceased or had any motive to see her dead
or to have actually taken part in administering her
poison.
5. The learned advocate would further submit that
going by the statements in the chit, it seems highly
improbable that after having forcibly administered
poison she could have found time to write this lengthy
chit by going to the next room and even to take its photo
and transmit it to her uncle. No plausible explanation
can be comprehended as to why she had not made a call
to any of her nearest relative rather than transmitting it
to the uncle. It is under these circumstances, when the
investigation is already complete and the material on
record points out a possibility of she having consumed
poison, when there are no criminal antecedents and
there is no possibility of applicant tampering with
evidence, he may be granted bail.
6. The learned APP opposes the application. He
submits that at this juncture minute scanning of the
material collected by the Investigating Officer is not
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permissible. Going by the chit written by the deceased,
the in-laws and her husband had administered her
poison. She has made oral dying declaration to her
brother Bhausaheb who is the informant and even to
her cousin Atul Sukhdeo Patil. This much of material
at this juncture is sufficient to reveal complicity of the
applicant in commission of the crime. The offence is
serious and punishable upto death. Therefore, the
applicant may not be granted bail.
7. Indeed, this is not a stage where the material
collected by the Investigating Officer has to be scanned
threadbare to ascertain veracity or otherwise of the
prosecution story. However, simultaneously one needs
to discern the facts and circumstances as have been
sought to be made out by the prosecution. The
prosecution has been heavily relying upon the chit
wherein the deceased had allegedly stated about the in-
laws and husband having forcibly administered her
poison. She had quoted the reason as well. However, as
is pointed out by the learned advocate for the applicant,
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this was the first occasion for the deceased to make a
truthful disclosure. She had found time to write this
lengthy chit and still has not specifically attributed any
overt act to the applicant. It is only after she has died
that her brother Bhausaheb and her cousin Atul
Sukhdeo Patil have come out with a sort of improvement
wherein she is alleged to have told them that the
applicant along with her father-in-law had caught hold
her hands and it is thereafter that the husband had
administered her poison. Thus there is apparent
material inconsistency between the chit allegedly left
behind by the deceased and the oral dying declaration
allegedly made to Bhausaheb and Atul.
8. Except the material discussed herein above in the
form of chit and the oral dying declaration there is
absolutely no material to reveal complicity of the
applicant in perpetrating the crime. The in-laws
themselves had taken the deceased to the hospital. It is
under these circumstances, in my considered view when
the investigation is already over and the charge-sheet
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has been filed and a trial is not likely to get over in a
foreseeable future, the applicant deserves to be released
on bail. Hence, I pass the following order :
ORDER
(i) The application is allowed.
(ii) The applicant be released on bail on his executing a Personal Recognizance for an amount of Rs.25,000/- and furnishing a solvent surety in the like amount subject to the condition that he shall not tamper the evidence or influence the witnesses.
(iii) Bail before the trial court.
(iv) It is made clear that the observations made herein above are confined to the decision of this application and the learned Trial Judge shall not feel influenced by them.
(MANGESH S. PATIL, J.) ...
vmk/-
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