Alleged of abetment to suicide, torture, and assault the petitioner was denied pre-arrest bail by the court: High Court of Patna

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.259121 Arising out of PS. Case No. 533 Year 2020 Thana BARHARA District Bhojpur Gunjan DeviWife of Ashok Kumar Singh R oVillage Farhada P.S. BarharaDist. Bhojpur The State of Bihar ... Petitioner s ... Opposite Party s For the Petitioner s Mr. Surendra Kumar Singh Senior Advocate with Mr. Praveen Prakash Advocate Mr. Jharkhandi Upadhyay APP For the State CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE AHSANUDDIN AMANULLAH Date : 10 08 2021 The matter has been heard via video conferencing 2. The case has been taken up out of turn on the basis of motion slip filed by learned counsel for the petitioner on 28.07.2021 which was allowed 3. Heard Mr. Surendra Kumar Singh learned senior counsel along with Mr. Praveen Prakash learned counsel for the petitioner and Mr. Jharkhandi Upadhyay learned Additional Public Prosecutorfor the State 4. The petitioner apprehends arrest in connection with BarharaPS Case No. 5320 dated 08.12.2020 instituted under Sections 306 34 of the Indian Penal Code 5. The allegation against the petitioner is that she being the step mother of the deceased along with father of the deceased Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.259121 dt.10 08 2021 used to torture and assault the informant and his deceased brother which led to the deceased committing suicide 6. Learned senior counsel for the petitioner submitted that she is a young lady and was married eighteen years ago to the widower father of the informant and has no role in the suicide of the deceased. It was submitted that the informant deceased and another brother had not accepted the petitioner. Learned senior counsel submitted that in fact it was the deceased and his two brothers including the informant who used to torture her for which she has filed Informatory Petition No. 3832 of 2016 on 25.11.2016 against the informant expressing that he may kill her He submitted that the petitioner besides being a lady has two minor children and has no role in the deceased committing suicide It was submitted that there is no allegation of any abetment of suicide against petitioner. 7. Learned APP submitted that it is obvious that there was huge age difference between the father of the deceased and the petitioner which indicates that the father of the informant deceased had married due to self choice despite such a huge gap and further that it is obvious that the step mother specially after the birth of her own children does not treat the children from the first wife with the same care and love and thus the allegation is very natural and believable. It was further submitted that in the informatory petition itself it has been stated that the husband of the petitioner Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.259121 dt.10 08 2021 used to work outside and it was the petitioner who was responsible for maintaining the house. It was submitted that this further makes it clears that she was in charge of the house and obviously because of maltreatment the deceased had taken the extreme step It was submitted that there is no reason for the deceased to take his life if the petitioner was treating them well especially in view of the father not living in the house and working outside. 8. Having considered the facts and circumstances of the case and submissions of learned counsel for the parties the Court finds that the allegations made cannot be said to be false unfounded or unbelievable. Rather in the present scenario and the facts and circumstances which have been placed before the Court the allegations appear to be natural and cannot be brushed aside especially at this stage 9. For reasons aforesaid the Court is not inclined to grant pre arrest bail to the petitioner 10. Accordingly the petition stands dismissed (Ahsanuddin Amanullah J

Summary: Petitioner alleged torture and assault to the deceased led to him committing suicide. The Court in the light of all facts and circumstances denied the bail to the petitioner as she was the sole in charge of the house and had 2 other children as well who were her own children which means that the allegations were believable. The Hon’ble High Court of Patna before Justice Mr. Ahsanuddin Amanullah in the matter Gunjan Devi v. The State of Bihar[Criminal Miscellaneous No.25919 of 2021].  The facts of the case were that the petitioner was apprehended arrest in connection with Case, instituted under Sections 306/34 of the Indian Penal Code. It was alleged that the petitioner was the stepmother of the deceased and she along with the deceased father used to torture and assault the informant and his deceased brother which led to him committing suicide. The Learned Counsel for the Petitioner contended that the petitioner is a young lady and had married the informant’s father 18 years back and had no role in the suicide of the deceased. It was submitted that the informant, deceased, and another brother had not accepted the petitioner. Learned senior counsel submitted that in fact, it was the deceased and his two brothers, including the informant, who used to torture her for which she has filed Informatory Petition a few years back. In the informatory petition, it was mentioned that they may kill her as well. It was submitted that there is no allegation of any abetment of suicide against the petitioner. The Additional Public Prosecutor summed up and submitted that it was very obvious that the father has married the lady because of his own choice despite the huge age difference between both of them. It was also obvious that the second wife after the birth of her own children doesn’t treat the children of the first wife with the same care and love thus the allegations are deemed to be real and obvious as well as believable. It was further submitted that in the informatory petition itself it has been stated that the husband of the petitioner used to work outside and it was the petitioner who was responsible for maintaining the house. It was submitted that this further makes it clear that she was in charge of the house. It was contended that the deceased had no other reason for taking his own life apart from being treated badly by the petitioner especially keeping in mind that the father used to stay outside the home and the petitioner was the sole in charge of the house and children. The Hon’ble High Court of Patna held,” Having considered the facts and circumstances of the case and submissions of learned counsel for the parties, the Court finds that the allegations made cannot be said to be false, unfounded or unbelievable. Rather, in the present scenario and the facts and circumstances which have been placed before the Court, the allegations appear to be natural and cannot be brushed aside, especially at this stage.” The court hence denied the pre-arrest bail and the petition was dismissed