Karlia Devi @ Balabati Pandey And ORS. v. State Of West Bengal

22/09/2025 D/L - 19 Court No.28 S. Kundu Partly Allowed C.R.M.(A) 2868 of 2025 In Re: An application for anticipatory bail under Section 482 of the BNSS, 2023. In connection with Purulia (M) police station case no. 196 of 2025 dated 10.6.2025 under Sections 85/103(1) of the BNS.

In the matter of: Karlia Devi @ Balabati Pandey & Ors.

...Petitioners.

Mr. Aritra Bhattacharyya ...for the petitioners.

Mr. Binoy Kr. Panda Mr. Dipankar Paramanick ...for the State.

1. Learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioners submits as follows. The petitioners are the mother-inlaw, the married sister-in-law and her husband. The petitioner nos. 2 and 3 reside separately. The marriage between the couple took place eight years ago. The petitioners are falsely implicated in this case. The principal accused being the husband has already been granted bail.

2. Learned counsel appearing for the State strongly opposes the prayer for anticipatory bail. He relies on the case diary and refers to the statement of a relative who was witness to the torture inflicted by the parents-in-law. He also refers to the statements of neighbours. The dead

body of the victim was found floating in water well behind the house of the petitioners.

3. Considering the materials available in the case diary and the alleged roles ascribed to each of the petitioners while I am inclined to grant anticipatory bail to the petitioner no. 2 (Mahenddra Tiwary) and petitioner no. 3 (Puja Devi), the application for anticipatory bail of the petitioner no. 1 (Karlia Devi) is rejected.

4. In the event of arrest, the petitioner nos. 2 and 3 shall be released on bail upon furnishing a bond of Rs.10,000/- each with two sureties of like amount each, one of whom must be local, to the satisfaction of the Arresting Officer and also be subject to further conditions that the said petitioners shall cooperate with the investigation and shall not threaten or intimidate witnesses. The petitioner no. 2 shall meet the Investigating Officer once a fortnight till submission of report in final form.

5. Accordingly, the application for anticipatory bail is allowed-in-part.

6. Urgent photostat certified copy of this order, if applied for, be given to the parties upon compliance with requisite formalities.

(Jay Sengupta, J.)