AJN 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION CRIMINAL APPLICATION NO.889 OF 2009 IN CRIMINAL APPEAL NO.312 OF 2007 Ms. Shahin @ Narsiha Mohd. Imtiyaz Shaikh ... Applicant Vs. The State of Maharashtra. ... Respondent Mr. P.N. Runwal for the applicant. Mr. S.S. Pednekar A.P.P. for the State. CORAM: SMT. RANJANA DESAI & MRS. MRIDULA BHATKAR, JJ. DATED : 25TH JANUARY, 2010. P.C.:- 1. The applicant along with two others was tried by the Sessions Court for Greater Bombay in Sessions Case No. 275 of 2003 for offences punishable under Section 302 read with Section 34 and Section 114 of the Indian Penal AJN 2 Code (for short, “the IPC”). By judgment and order dated 23/2/2007, learned Sessions Judge convicted the applicant and two other accused for offences punishable under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the IPC and sentenced them to suffer imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs.5,000/-, in default, to undergo R.I. for six months. Appeal filed by the applicant has been admitted. This is an application for bail. At the outset, we must state that earlier application filed by the applicant for bail was withdrawn by her. We must also state that the bail application filed by the brother-in-law of the applicant has been rejected by a Division Bench of this court to which one of us (Smt. Ranjana Desai, J.) was a party, holding, inter alia, that the two dying declarations made by the deceased were consistent. 2. We have heard learned counsel appearing for the applicant at some length. We are informed that the applicant was on bail during trial. He drew our attention to a letter written by the applicant from jail in which, she AJN 3 has stated that she has three children and her daughter and son are staying with her mother in law. However, due to her absence, they repeatedly fall sick. She has further stated that one of her sons is with her in jail. According to her, that son is three years old. It appears that the applicant is in jail from the date of her conviction on 23/2/2007. She has completed about three years' imprisonment. We have perused the two dying declarations. According to the deceased, kerosene was thrown on her by the brother-in-law of the applicant and the deceased was set on fire by the husband of the applicant. The present applicant is stated to have held the hands of the deceased. Prima facie, major role appears to have been played by the two other accused. Considering the fact that the major role is played by the other two accused; that the applicant was on bail throughout the trial and that she is in jail for about three years and primarily considering the fact that her three year old son is staying with her in jail and two children are staying with her mother-in-law, we deem it appropriate to AJN 4 grant her bail. We, however feel that since the family of the deceased is staying near the house of the applicant, the applicant should not stay in the same locality. Hence the following order : ORDER “The Applicant - Shahin @ Narsiha Mohd. Imtiyaz Shaikh is ordered to be released on bail in the sum of Rs.5,000/- (Rupees Five Thousand only) with one or two sureties to make up the amount. While on bail, the applicant shall not stay in Dharavi area. She shall furnish the address of the place where she is going to reside to the Shahu Nagar Police Station, Mahim, Mumbai.” 3. The application is disposed of in the aforestated AJN 5 terms. 4. Copy of this order be communicated to the applicant in jail. 5. All concerned to act on the authenticated copy of this order. [SMT. RANJANA DESAI, J.] [MRS. MRIDULA BHATKAR, J.]