The Court is not inclined to grant pre-arrest bail to the petitioner as she was arrested under Sections 498A, 304B,120/34IPC: High court of Patna

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No. 355820 Arising Out of PS. Case No. 589 Year 2016 Thana MANER District Patna Arti Kumari aged about 22 years Female Daughter of Sri Rajeshwar Rai Resident of Village Jivrakhan Tola Goraiya Asthan PS Maner District The State of Bihar ... Petitioner s ... Opposite Party s For the Petitioner s For the State Mr. Krishna Prasad Singh Senior Advocate with Mr. Sunil Kumar Singh Advocate Mr. Satya Nand Shukla APP CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE AHSANUDDIN AMANULLAH ORAL JUDGMENT Date : 27 07 2021 The matter has been heard via video conferencing 2. Heard Mr. Krishna Prasad Singh learned Senior counsel assisted by Mr. Sunil Kumar Singh learned counsel for the petitioner and Mr. Satya Nand Shukla learned Additional Public Prosecutor for the 3. The petitioner apprehends arrest in connection with Maner PS Case No. 589 of 2016 dated 30.12.2016 instituted under Sections 498A 304B and 120 34 of the Indian Penal 4. The allegation against the petitioner who is the unmarried sister of the husband of the deceased and her other Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.355820 dt.27 07 2021 family members is of killing the deceased and her three minor children by putting them on fire 5. Learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that besides being the unmarried sister the fact that three minor children were also killed goes to show that there could not have been any role of the family members as they may have had differences with the sister of the informant but there could not have been any dispute or enmity with the minor children of her brother. It was submitted that due to dispute between the couple the sister of the informant had committed suicide along with her three children in a fit of rage. Learned counsel submitted that the husband has also been enlarged on bail after spending some time in custody. It was submitted that the father of the petitioner who was the father in law of the deceased Rajeshwar Rai has been granted anticipatory bail by a co ordinate Bench of this Court by order dated 03.03.2020 in Cr. Misc. No 90020. It was submitted that the petitioner besides being a lady has no criminal antecedent 6. Learned APP from the case diary submitted that the body of two children and the skeleton of the lady were fished out from the river whereas the body of the third child has not been recovered and the postmortem shows that death was due to Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.355820 dt.27 07 2021 burning. It was further submitted that at the place of occurrence a bed has been found on which the deceased were burnt to death and thereafter the body was thrown in the river to destroy the evidence. It was submitted that witnesses have supported the prosecution version and the petitioner was in the house as she was unmarried when such incident happened and most importantly the father of the petitioner was granted bail on the ground that he was made accused only after ten months. However the petitioner though not specifically named in the FIR which states about a sister of the husband of the deceased but obviously refers to her as she was the only sister living in the matrimonial house of the deceased and the circumstances also go to prove that the petitioner was involved in the heinous crime 7. Having considered the facts and circumstances of the case and submissions of learned counsel for the parties the Court is not inclined to grant pre arrest bail to the petitioner 8. Accordingly the petition stands dismissed (Ahsanuddin Amanullah J

Summary: The petitioner in connection with Maner PS Case No. 589 of 2016 dated 30.12.2016, was arrested under section 498A Indian Penal Code, “Husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty.” section 304B, “Dowry death”, section 120, “Concealing design to commit an offense punishable with impris­onment”, and section 34 IPC, “Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention.” This judgment was given in the high court of Judicature at Patna on the 27th of July 2021 by the Honorable Mr. Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah in the case of Arti Kumari v/s state of Bihar criminal miscellaneous No. 35586 of 2020, Mr. Krishna Singh represented as the senior advocate for the petitioner and Mr. Satya represented the state of Bihar as the additional Public Prosecutor, the proceedings of the court were held through video conference. The following are the facts of the case, the petitioner and her family members have been accused of killing her sister-in-law and her three minor children, the petitioner is reportedly the sister of the husband of the deceased, there has been an allegation of the brutal murder of putting them on fire. According to the counsel for the petitioner, he held that such allegations are false because the facts that three minor children were murdered show that the family members have not played a role in the same as they are the children of her own brother, even though there have been some disputes with the sister of the informant there was no enmity with the minor children since there was some dispute between the couple, the counsel claimed that the sister of the informant (now deceased) committed suicide with her three children in the fit of anger, the counsel held that the husband of the deceased has been given bail after being custody and also the father in law of the deceased has been released on anticipatory bail by the bench of the high court, the petitioner has no criminal antecedent. The additional public prosecutor held that the body of the two children and the mother was fished out from the river and the body of the third child is yet to be recovered and based on the post-mortem, it showed that the death was due to burns he also held that the place of the incident took place on a bed where the deceased was burnt to death and the body was thrown into the river to destroy evidence, witnessed has also supported the prosecution version and the petitioner lived in the house because she was unmarried and various other circumstances prove that the petitioner was involved in the heinous crime.