Gauhati High Court
Page No.# 1/3 vs The State Of Assam on 8 April, 2021
Author: Manish Choudhury
Bench: Manish Choudhury
Page No.# 1/3
GAHC010069942021
THE GAUHATI HIGH COURT
(HIGH COURT OF ASSAM, NAGALAND, MIZORAM AND ARUNACHAL PRADESH)
Case No. : AB/1108/2021
LABANYA HAZARIKA AND 4 ORS
W/O LT. JIBESWAR HAZARIKA R/O RUKMINI NAGAR, LAST GATE HOUSE
NO .2 PIN-781036 DIST. KAMRUP (M)
2: MRIGANKA SHEKHAR CHALIHA
S/O LT. MUKUL CH. CHALIHA
R/O HOUSE NO. 32 K.B. ROAD
JORHAT TOWN PIN-785001 DIST. JORHAT
3: PRIYANKA SHEKHAR CHALIHA
S/O LT. NAKUL CHALIHA
R/O HOUSE NO. 31 K.B. ROAD
JORHAT TOWN PIN-785001 DIST. JORHAT
4: RUPREKHA CHALIHA
W/O LT. CHIRANJIT CHALIHA
R/O HOUSE NO. 34 K.B. ROAD
JORHAT TOWN PIN-785001 DIST. JORHAT
5: GYANENDRA PRASAD CHALIHA @ GYANENDRA CHALIHA
S/O LT. CHIRANJIT CHALIHA R/O HOUSE NO. 34 K.B. ROAD
JORHAT TOWN PIN-785001 DIST. JORHA
VERSUS
THE STATE OF ASSAM
REP. BY THE PP, ASSAM
Advocate for the Petitioner : MR. A K BHUYAN
Advocate for the Respondent : PP, ASSAM
Page No.# 2/3
BEFORE
HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE MANISH CHOUDHURY
ORDER
08.04.2021 Heard Mr. A.K. Bhuyan, learned counsel for the petitioners and Ms. A. Begum, learned Additional Public Prosecutor for respondent, State of Assam.
2. By this application under Section 438, Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC), the petitioners viz. 1) Smti Labanya Hazarika, 2) Dr. Mriganka Shekhar Chaliha, 3) Shri Priyanka Shekhar Chaliha, 4) Smt. Ruprekha Chaliha, and 5) Mr. Gyanandra Prasad Chaliha @ Gyanendra Chaliha have approached this Court seeking the benefit of pre-arrest bail apprehending their arrest in connection with Noonmati Police Station Case no. 200/2021, registered under Sections 306/34, Indian Penal Code (IPC).
3. The case diary of Noonmati Police Station Case no. 200/2021 be called for.
4. In the First Information Report (FIR) lodged by the informant on 01.04.2021, the informant has stated that his wife had committed suicide on 01.04.2021 by hanging. It has been alleged that there were civil disputes which were going on between the accused persons named in the FIR and the deceased since a long period of time and on that pretext, the deceased was often threatened by the accused persons to withdraw the case or else, to face dire consequences. It has been alleged that when the deceased approached the accused persons in Jorhat about 3 (three) weeks earlier, she was humiliated and even assaulted by two of the accused persons. As a result of such humiliation and assault, the deceased was demoralized. Alleging there was some heated altercation over phone on the date of her death also, it has been alleged that the accused persons had abetted in the act of suicide of the deceased.
5. It has been submitted by the learned counsel for the petitioners, by referring to the documents annexed to the application, that the petitioners are relatives of the deceased who committed suicide in her own home located at Noonmati area in Guwahati city on 01.04.2021. He has submitted that from the FIR itself it is evident that none of the petitioners had met the deceased during the previous three weeks prior to her death and only contact between the deceased and some of the petitioners allegedly were over phone which, according to the learned counsel for the petitioners, cannot be held to have aided, instigated or engaged in abetting the act of suicide. Learned counsel for the petitioners has submitted that admittedly, there were disputes between the deceased and other family members including the petitioners, over ancestral property and a numbers of civil litigations were pursued either by the deceased or by some of the petitioners.
6. Upon due consideration of the allegations made in the FIR and the projections made on behalf of the petitioners on the basis of the materials annexed to the application, I am of Page No.# 3/3 the considered view that the petitioners have made out a prima facie case for grant of interim protection pending further consideration of the case upon examination of materials collected in course of investigation upon production of the concerned case dairy.
7. Accordingly, it is provided, in the interim, that in the event of arrests of the petitioners viz. 1) Smti Labanya Hazarika, 2) Dr. Mriganka Shekhar Chaliha, 3) Shri Priyanka Shekhar Chaliha, 4) Smt. Ruprekha Chaliha, and 5) Mr. Gyanandra Prasad Chaliha @ Gyanendra Chaliha in connection with Noonmati Police Station Case no. 200/2021, they shall be released on bail on furnishing a bail bond of Rs. 20,000/- each with one local surety each of the like amount, to the satisfaction of the arresting authority subject to the conditions that :
[1] the petitioners shall appear before the Investigating Officer (I.O.) of the case within 10 (ten) days from today to record their statements and shall cooperate with the investigation;
[2] the petitioners shall not, directly or indirectly, make any inducement, threat or promise to any witness acquainted with the facts of the case so as to dissuade them from disclosing such facts to the court or to any police officer;
[3] the petitioners shall not obstruct or hamper the police investigation and not to play mischief with the evidence collected or yet to be collected by the police; and [4] the petitioners shall maintain law and order and they shall not commit an offence similar to the offence of which they are accused, or of the commission of which they are suspected.
Let the case be posted on 30.04.2021 to enable the learned Additional Public Prosecutor to produce the concerned case diary.
JUDGE Comparing Assistant