Urmila Devi v. The State Of Bihar

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA

CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.32118 of 2026 Arising Out of PS. Case No.-88 Year-2024 Thana- KATEYA District- Gopalganj ====================================================== Urmila Devi, W/O Suresh Ram, R/O Village- Jamunaha, PS- Kateya, DistrictGopalganj, Bihar. ... ... Petitioner/s

Versus

The State of Bihar ... ... Opposite Party/s ====================================================== Appearance :

For the Petitioner/s :

Mr. Indrajeet Bhushan, Adv.

For the Opposite Party/s :

Mr. Raj Ballabh Singh, APP ====================================================== CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SHAILENDRA SINGH ORAL ORDER 12-05-2026 Heard the parties.

2. Petitioner seeks regular bail in connection with Kateya P.S. Case No. 88 of 2024 registered for the offence punishable under section 304B read with section 34 of the Indian Penal Code.

3. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the petitioner is innocent and has falsely been implicated in the present case and she happens to be the mother-in-law of the deceased and no specific overt act has been attributed against her and the allegations regarding demand of dowry and torture are general and omnibus in nature and there is no material to show that the deceased was subjected to cruelty or harassment soon before her death. It is further submitted that the husband of the deceased, namely Dilip Ram, who was the main accused in the present case, has already been acquitted by the learned trial court vide judgment dated 24.09.2025 passed in Sessions Trial No. 729

Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.32118 of 2026(2) dt.12-05-2026 2/2 of 2024 and referring to the postmortem report, learned counsel submits that the cause of death has been opined to be "asphyxia caused by hanging" and except ligature mark on the neck, no external injury was found on the body of the deceased and the petitioner has fair and clean antecedent and has been languishing in jail since 03.02.2026.

4. Learned APP for the State has opposed the prayer of the petitioner.

5. In the facts and circumstances of this case and considering the statements made in the petition as well as above submissions, coupled with the facts that the deceased's husband, who was also named in the FIR along with this petitioner, has been acquitted of the charged offence and the petitioner is said to be the mother-in-law of the deceased and in the FIR there is no specific allegation against the petitioner, this Court is inclined to release her on bail. Accordingly, let the petitioner named-above be released on bail on furnishing bail bond of Rs. 20,000/- (Rupees Twenty Thousand) with two sureties of the like amount each to the satisfaction of the court concerned in connection with Kateya P.S. Case No. 88 of 2024.

(Shailendra Singh, J) annu/- U T