1 mpt IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE OF BOMBAY CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION CRIMINAL APPLICATION NO. 3444 OF 2007 Gulab Pandharinath Jadhav .. Applicant versus State of Maharashtra .. Respondent ... Mr.Vivek Salunke for the applicant. Mr.K.V. Saste APP for the State. CORAM : D.G.KARNIK, J DATED : 6th February 2008 P.C.: 1. Heard. 2. The applicant has been arrested and charged with an offence (C.R.No.26/07 with Junnar police station) punishable u/s.498A and 306 r/w sec.34 of the IPC. 2 3. Applicant is the husband of the deceased. Marriage between the applicant and deceased took place six years prior to the death of the deceased. The deceased has one daughter aged 5 years and one son born from the applicant. 4. On 4th April 2007, the father of the deceased lodged an FIR alleging that the applicant and his parents had murdered and killed his daughter by pushing her into a well. In the FIR, he stated that the applicant and his parents were doubting chastity of the deceased and had been harassing her on that count. On 29th March 2007, the deceased had gone at Chincholi and returned home late night along with her brother in law, Eknath Bhikaji Kasbe, on account of which also chastity of the deceased was doubted. She was therefore killed by the applicant and his parents. 5. The applicant was arrested on 4th April 2007 and was remanded to custody for the alleged offence u/s.302, 498A r/w sec.34 of the IPC. Investigation was carried out and after the investigation, the police have filed a report to the Magistrate on 27th July 2007 seeking permission to delete the charge u/s.302 on the ground that there was no evidence and 3 for permission to modify it to charge under section 306 of the IPC. 6. The applicant initially approached the Sessions Court for bail. The learned Addl. Adhoc Sessions Judge vide his order dated 30th July 2007 has rejected the application. The applicant has therefore approached this court for bail. 7. The allegation against the applicant and his parents are common. No specific role has been attributed to the applicant. 8. Though the present application has been filed as early as 12th October 2007, no affidavit in reply has been filed. No material has been placed on record by the prosecution to show how the applicant is connected with the crime. The allegation in the FIR is that the deceased was killed and murdered doubting the character. The charge of murder is deleted. There is no independent evidence about the allegation of harassment. The case against the applicant is in no way worse than the case against his parents who have been granted bail. 8. In the circumstances, the applicant be released on bail on executing personal bond of 4 Rs.20,000/- with two sureties of like amount subject to the condition that the applicant shall not make any inducement nor give threats to the prosecution witness and shall not tamper with the prosecution evidence. He shall also attend the concerned police station once a month between 1st and 5th day of British Calendar month till the conclusion of the trial. (D.G. KARNIK, J)