Seema Singh vs Central Bureau Of Investigation And Anr

5) The gravamen of the charge against respondent No. 2 is that he has murdered his wife Smt. Sara Singh. The allegations in the chargesheet are that respondent No. 2 got married to the deceased at Arya Samaj Mandir, Lucknow on July 27, 2013 where after the deceased went to live at her mother’s place due Criminal Appeal No. 569 of 2018 & Anr.

to the social non-acceptance of their marriage by the family members of respondent No. 2. She used to live at her mother’s place when suddenly respondent No. 2 started behaving cordially with his wife and planned a trip in July, 2015 along with her to New Delhi/Leh. During the course of their journey, the Maruti Swift Car allegedly met with an accident on July 09, 2015 near Sirsaganj, District Firozabad. It was not an accident but a pre- planned plot to get rid of the deceased and subsequently a FIR dated July 18, 2015 was registered by the appellant herein who is the mother of the deceased. Consequently the Case Crime No. 387 of 2015 under Sections 498-A, 302 and 120-B IPC, Police Station Sirsaganj, District Firozabad was registered. The State Government transferred the case to the CBI vide notification issued on July 24, 2015 and another notification was issued by the Department of Personnel & Training, Government of India, New Delhi on October 14, 2015. In pursuance of the above notifications, the CBI registered a case bearing No. RC No. 6(S)/2015/ SCU.V/SC.II/CBI dated October 19, 2015 and accordingly the CBI commenced the investigation of the aforesaid case on October 19, 2015. Subsequently, on the basis of evidence collected by the CBI, respondent No. 2 was arrested on November 25, 2016. Thereafter, respondent No. 2 filed his bail Criminal Appeal No. 569 of 2018 & Anr.

6) It becomes clear from the above that respondent No. 2 maintains that incident in question was merely an accident in which his wife died. On the other hand, the prosecution alleges that in reality, respondent No. 2 murdered his wife and thereafter stage managed the said accident in order to project that Sara Singh died in the said accident.

7) According to respondent No.2, when their car met with an accident on July 09, 2015 which was being driven by him and his wife Sara Singh was also sitting therein, she got badly injured and while she was taken to the hospital, she expired and was declared brought dead by the District Hospital, Ferozabad. Postmortem of the body was conducted and as per the report, the cause of death was due to the injuries received in the said accident. Sara Singh was cremated thereafter. However, on July 18, 2015, the FIR was lodged doubting the postmortem Criminal Appeal No. 569 of 2018 & Anr.

report and alleging that Sara Singh was murdered. After the investigation of the case was transferred to the CBI, CBI has obtained the report from Central Road Research Institute (CRRI), report of the Medical Board constituted by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, report from Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL), New Delhi as well as from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). On the basis of these reports and further investigation, chargesheet was prepared and submitted to the CBI court, Ferozabad.

8) Respondent No. 2 was arrested on November 25, 2016 and was granted bail on March 09, 2017. He, thus, remained in custody for three and half months.

9) The case set up by respondent No. 2 in support of his plea for bail in the High Court was that the accused and his wife had planned a trip to Leh and when they reached Ferozabad, the accused found that a small school girl was coming on her bicycle from the other side. In order to save her, the accused had to apply sudden brakes on his vehicle which was being driven at a high speed and diverted the stearing as a result of which the car went out of control and fell in a ditch alongside road. The result was that the car skidded and over-turned. It was also pleaded that there were Criminal Appeal No. 569 of 2018 & Anr.

no eye-witnesses of the incident and no evidence whatsoever which could show the participation of respondent No. 2 as per the role assiged by the CBI. The prosecution, while opposing the bail, had drawn the attention to the reports of CRRI, AIIMS, CFSL and IIT. On the basis of these reports, it was contended that there was clear evidence to show that it was not an accident as narrated by respondent No. 2 and, therefore, it was the result of a pre-planned murder. Referring to the report of the AIIMS, it was argued that Sara Singh was initially strangulated and thereafter crime scene was created in which the accident became the culminating point. It was also emphasised that respondent No. 2 had a criminal history of three cases.

Apart from the aforesaid conditions, it is further provided that the applicant shall surrender his passport within a period of two weeks’ from the date of his release before the concerned court and shall co-operate with the investigation. It is further provided that the applicant shall present himself before the court concerned on each and every date and will not seek any adjournment whatsoever and in case any adjournment is sought on any exceptional circumstances, the court concerned shall specify the reasons in the order itself while granting such adjournment. It is also provided that in case, there is any change of address, the concerned S.S.P. and the Court shall be immediately informed.

40. The courts, normally would look at expert evidence with a greater sense of acceptability, but it is equally true that the courts are not absolutely guided by the report of the experts, especially if such reports are perfunctory and unsustainable. We agree that the purpose of an expert opinion is primarily to assist the court in arriving at a final conclusion but such report is not a conclusive one. This Court is expected to analyse the report, read it in conjunction with the other evidence on record and then form its final opinion as to whether such report is worthy of reliance or not. As discussed earlier, serious doubts arise about the cause of death stated in the post-mortem reports.”

Criminal Appeal No. 569 of 2018 & Anr.

(3) Direct the accused to execute bonds.

(4) The accused may be directed to furnish sureties of a number of persons which according to the prosecution are necessary in view of the facts of the particular case. (5) The accused be directed to furnish undertaking that he would not visit the place where the witnesses reside so that the possibility of tampering of evidence or otherwise influencing the course of justice can be avoided. (6) Bank accounts be frozen for small duration during the investigation.

118. In case the arrest is imperative, according to the facts of the case, in that event, the arresting officer must clearly record the reasons for the arrest of the accused before the arrest in the case diary, but in exceptional cases where it becomes imperative to arrest the accused immediately, the reasons be recorded in the case diary immediately after the arrest is made without loss of any time so that the court has an opportunity to properly consider the case for grant or refusal of bail in the light of reasons recorded by the arresting officer.

119. Exercise of jurisdiction under Section 438 CrPC is an extremely important judicial function of a Judge and must be entrusted to judicial officers with some experience and good track record. Both the individual and society have vital interest in orders passed by the courts in anticipatory bail applications.

They must learn to maintain fine balance between the personal liberty and the social interests.

Criminal Appeal No. 569 of 2018 & Anr.

use) is an exception. Unfortunately, some of these basic principles appear to have been lost sight of with the result that more and more persons are being incarcerated and for longer periods. This does not do any good to our criminal jurisprudence or to our society.

xxx xxx xxx

7. However, we should not be understood to mean that bail should be granted in every case. The grant or refusal of bail is entirely within the discretion of the judge hearing the matter and though that discretion is unfettered, it must be exercised judiciously and in a humane manner and compassionately. Also, conditions for the grant of bail ought not to be so strict as to be incapable of compliance, thereby making the grant of bail illusory.”

16) We, therefore, do not find any merit in these appeals which are accordingly dismissed.

APRIL 18, 2018.

Criminal Appeal No. 569 of 2018 & Anr.