SAMI ULLAH AND ORS Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioners have knocked at the portals of this Court for seeking their release on bail in FIR No.02/2014, registered against them on 04.01.2014 at Police Station Mendhar for the commission of the offences under Sections 302/120-B RPC .

(2.) The facts as these emerge from the study of the file under consideration are that the deceased-Shaheen Akhter was married to the petitioner No.1 in the year 201 After this marriage, the relationship of the petitioner No.1 and his wife did not remain cordial. The petitioner No.1 started maltreating her in her matrimonial home. A case under Section 498-A RPC was registered against the petitioners for the ill treatment meted out to the deceased. Thereafter, they arrived at an amicable settlement in which the petitioner No.1 assured the deceased that he will not subject her to any torture, whereafter the deceased went to her matrimonial home. However, the agony of the deceased did not end here. She was again subjected to beating by the accused under the pretext that she could not fetch dowry from her parental home. It is also stated that at the time of marriage, an amount of Rs.10 lacs was fixed as Dower, out of which, an amount of Rs.1 lac only was paid to the deceased in the form of jewellery and the balance amount reckoned and calculated at Rs.9 lacs was fixed as deferred dower. The deceased wanted to put an end to the marriage by a divorce but the petitioner No.1 avoided the matter for the reason that he had to pay the Dower on the anvil of divorce. Therefore, she was neither divorced nor did her agony end and she was subjected to continuous torture. Finally on the fateful night intervening between 12/13 December, 2013, the petitioners in furtherance of a criminal conspiracy put the deceased to death by strangulating her and after concealing the dead body for some time threw the same in a river/nallah at Ari Mendhar. It was on the 4th of January, 2014 that the body of the deceased was fished out of the said Nallah.

(3.) The petitioners have contended in their petition that on the culmination of the investigation of the case, a charge-sheet for the commission of the aforesaid offences was laid against them before the committal Court, which ultimately landed in the Court of Sessions at Poonch. It is further contended by the petitioners that they were charged for the commission of offences under Sections 302/120-B RPC vide order dated 11.06.2014 of the trial Court. The petitioners have proceeded to state that during the course of the trial of the case, the prosecution examined PW-1 Mohd. Rafiq, PW-2 Haji Mohd Sadiq and Ishtiaq Ahmed, whereafter petitioner No.4 filed an application on 26.08.2014 for the grant of bail in his favour before the trial Court chiefly, on the ground that he is infirm and the enlargement of the prostate and cyst in both his kidneys has necessitated for him to undergo a surgery. However, the said application came to be rejected by an order dated 29.10.2014 on the ground that no medical record is available on the file which would justify the indulgence of the Court for the grant of bail in his favour. It is also stated that on 25.10.2014, the petitioner Nos.1 to 3 filed an application for the grant of bail before the trial Court on the ground that there is no evidence to support the charge framed against them. The said application also met the same fate and was rejected by the trial court vide order dated 30.12.2014 on the ground that a prima facie case for the commission of aforesaid offences is made out against the petitioners and that no delay has been caused in examining the prosecution witnesses.