Gauhati High Court
Deepa Devi vs The State Of Assam on 25 November, 2022
Author: Manish Choudhury
Bench: Manish Choudhury
Page No. 1/3
GAHC010229232022
THE GAUHATI HIGH COURT
(HIGH COURT OF ASSAM, NAGALAND, MIZORAM AND ARUNACHAL PRADESH)
Case No. : Bail Appln./2999/2022
DEEPA DEVI
W/O SRI DINESH POUDEL
R/O VILL- NO. 2 CHITOLMARI
P.O. CITOLMARI, P.S. DHEKIAJULI
DIST. SONITPUR, ASSAM
VERSUS
THE STATE OF ASSAM
REP. BY THE PP, ASSAM
Advocate for the Petitioner : MR. K K UPADHYAY
Advocate for the Respondent : PP, ASSAM
BEFORE
HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE MANISH CHOUDHURY
ORDER
Date : 25-11-2022 Heard Ms. S. Upadhyaya, learned counsel for the accused-petitioner and Mr. M.P. Goswami, learned Additional Public Prosecutor for the respondent State of Assam.
2. By this application under Section 439, Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 [CrPC], the accused-petitioner viz. Smt. Deepa Devi has prayed for her release on bail in connection with Dhekiajuli Police Station Case no. 301/2022 registered under Section 302, Indian Penal Code [IPC].
Page No. 2/33. The informant in the First Information Report [FIR], lodged on 05.10.2022, has stated that his younger daughter, Bobita Chetri got married with Sri Tirtharaj Chetri, Village - Balijan, Police Station - Dhekiajuli, District - Sonitpur at about 3 [three] years ago and they had one child out the wedlock. At around 09-00 p.m., on 04.10.2022, he received information that his daughter was dead. He suspected that deceased husband and his family members to be behind the murder of his daughter in cold blood, though the death was shown to have been caused by hanging. He had alleged that the husband and his family members had been torturing his daughter mentally and continuously.
4. The accused-petitioner herein is a sister of the husband of the deceased, Tirtharaj Chetri.
5. Ms. Upadhyaya, learned counsel for the accused-petitioner has submitted that on the date of the alleged incident, the accused-petitioner was in her in-laws' place, which is at the distance of 5 kms from the alleged place of incident. On that day, the accused-petitioner was busy with religious functions. It is her further submission that the accused-petitioner having got married only 8 [eight] months earlier, were always engrossed with the affairs of her in-laws family and she had no time to give any attention to the affairs of the parental house, more particularly, the marital relationship between her elder brother and the deceased.
6. The post-mortem examination on the dead body of the deceased was conducted on 05.10.2022 and the post-mortem examination was preceded by inquest on the dead body of the deceased. As per the inquest report, there were number of bruises in the body of the deceased and it was remarked after preliminary investigation that the body might have been strangled to death, which could be ascertained only after post-mortem examination on the dead body. As per the post-mortem examination report, one oblique non-continuous ligature mark was found present around the neck at the level of thyroid cartilage and the hyoid bone was found healthy. There was also a contusion mark over front of right leg. The viscera was preserved and thereafter, handed over for chemical analysis in the Directorate of Forensic Science, Assam. The opinion as regards the cause of death has been kept pending till receipt Page No. 3/3 chemical analysis report from the Directorate of Forensic Science, Assam. The chemical analysis report from the Directorate of Forensic Science, Assam has not yet been received.
7. In the case diary, the statements of a number of witnesses recorded under Section 161, CrPC, are available. The witnesses including independent witnesses who had known the deceased only after the marriage, specifically mentioned about the continuous tortures meted out by the husband and his family members upon the deceased. The role of the present accused-petitioner in such acts is also specifically mentioned. The marriage between Tirtharaj Cherti and the deceased was solemnized only 3 [three] years earlier. There were materials in the case diary which go to suggest that there were continuous demands of dowry from the family of the husband. It is also noticed that the elder daughter-in-law of the family of Sri Durgabahadur Chetri i.e. the father of Tirtharaj Chetri had also left the house of her in-laws' house due to excessive tortures meted out to her during her stay in her in-laws house as a daughter-in-law. The elder daughter-in-law has also specifically referred to inculpatory role played by the present accused-petitioner. The death of the deceased is found to be an unnatural one. Thus, this Court is of the view that this case is not a fit case to extend the benefit of bail to the accused-petitioner at this stage of investigation as the investigation is still in progress. Consequently, the prayer for bail is rejected.
JUDGE Comparing Assistant