Sona Singh v. The State Of West Bengal And ANR.

37.

25-09-2024 (ct. no.28) debajyoti (allowed) CRM (DB) 2923 of 2024 In re: An application for bail under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure/483 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 in connection with Lalgarh Police Station Case No.40 of 2024 dated 28-04-2024 under Sections 366/376(2)(i)(j)(n)/304B/306/323/506/ 34 of the Indian Penal Code read with Sections 4/6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and Sections 9/10 of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act. - A n d - In the matter of : Sona Singh .... Petitioner.

Mr. Shraman Sarkar, Mr. Dhiman Banerjee ... For the Petitioner.

Mr. Antarikhya Basu, Ms. Nahid Ahmed ... For the State.

Ms. Suchismita Dutta ... For the defacto complainant.

Dictated by Arijit Banerjee, J.

Affidavit-of-Service filed in Court today is taken on record.

The petitioner is the mother-in-law of the victim lady, who apparently committed suicide. The allegation is that the in-laws of the victim lady used to torture her which drove her to kill herself.

The petitioner says that she has nothing to do with the suicide of the victim lady. She is in custody for 151 days.

Investigation is complete and charge sheet has been filed. She prays for bail.

Opposing the prayer for bail, learned advocates for the State and the defacto complainant say that charge has already been framed and recording of evidence has started. There are 22 witnesses. All efforts will be made to conclude the trial at an early date.

On an overall consideration of the material in the Case Diary, including the statements of the neighbours recorded under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, we are of the view that further custodial detention of the petitioner may not be necessary.

Accordingly, we direct that the petitioner, namely, Sona Singh, shall be released on bail upon furnishing a bond of Rs.10,000/- (Rupees Ten Thousand), with two sureties of like amount each, one of whom must be local, to the satisfaction of learned Judge, Special Court under POCSO Act, Jhargram. The petitioner shall appear before the trial Court on every date of hearing and shall not intimidate the witnesses and/or tamper with evidence in any manner whatsoever. The petitioner shall remain within the jurisdiction of local police station, until further orders. In the event the petitioner fails to comply with any of the conditions stipulated above, the trial Court shall be at liberty to cancel her bail in accordance with law without further reference to this Court.

The application for bail being CRM (DB) 2923 of 2024 is, thus, allowed.

All parties shall act on the server copies of this order duly downloaded from the official website of this Court.

Criminal Section is directed to supply certified copies of this order to the parties, if applied for, upon compliance of all necessary formalities.

(Arijit Banerjee, J.) (Apurba Sinha Ray, J.)