NITABEN ABHAYBHAI MEHTA Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Rule. Mr. Deepak Trivedi, learned P.P. waives service of rule. Affidavits of the petitioners dispensed with.

(2.) This common Judgment shall govern the disposal of these two Misc. Criminal Applications, filed on behalf of the petitioners Dr. (Mrs.) Nita A. Mehta and Mahendra V. Vora, under Sec. 438 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, for obtaining the orders in nature of Anticipatory Bail as they apprehend their arrest in connection with C. R. No. 290 of 1992 registered at 'C' Division Police Station, Rajkot, for the alleged offence of murder.

(3.) The Misc. Cri. Application No. 2311 of 1992 has been filed by Dr. (Mrs.) Nita Mehta, who happens to be the younger sister of the deceased Dr. Madhuben Shah. The other petition has been filed by the applicant Mahendra Vora, who happens to be the husband of yet another sister of the deceased. The much debated question, arising under the special facts and circumstances of the case is - whether, when the material collected by the Investigating Agency, thus far, is clearly divisible in two distinctly separate compartments, the earlier one clearly ruling out any possibility of the involvement of the petitioners in the offence, while the latter one, of course flowing from the very same complainant and witnesses but at a much belated stage, amidst a variety of allegations of police duress and coersion, tending to indicate their involvement, the petitioners are entitled to the orders in nature of Anticipatory Bail under Sec. 438 of the Code ? Now some facts :