Sotu Majhi And ANR. v. State Of West Bengal
AD 14 January 22, 2026 Ct. 28 SG CRM(A) 4321 of 2025 Partly Allowed An application for anticipatory bail under Section 482 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 in connection with Raghunathganj P.S. Case No.1461 of 2025 dated 19.11.2025 under Sections 108/3(5) of the BNS, 2023. And In the matter of:
Sotu Majhi and another ... petitioners Mr. Kunal Ganguly ... for the petitioners Mr. Md. Adil Badr Mr. Tirthankar Dhali ... for the State Learned counsel for the petitioners submits that there was a delay in lodging the FIR. The death took place after five years of marriage. The husband is in custody. The present petitioners are the parents-in-law of the alleged victim.
Learned counsel for the State strongly opposes the prayer for anticipatory bail and relies on the statements of witnesses including that of the elder daughter of the alleged victim before a learned Magistrate and also on the postmortem report. He submits that as per the statement of the elder daughter, after the victim attempted to commit suicide, she was taken down and she was still alive. However, the mother-in-law and another went towards the hospital, but came back. After the victim's mother came, she was taken to the hospital.
It appears that the prime allegations of torture are against the mother-in-law.
Considering the above, the other materials available in the case diary and the alleged role ascribed to each of the petitioners, while I am inclined to grant anticipatory bail to the petitioner No.1, the application for anticipatory bail of the petitioner No.2 (Seta Majhi) is rejected.
In the event of arrest, the petitioner No.1 (Sotu Majhi)) shall be released on bail upon furnishing a bond of Rs.10,000/- (rupees ten thousand) 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 the conditions as laid down under Section 438(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 corresponding to Section 482(2) of the BNSS, 2023 and on the further conditions that the petitioner No. 1 shall cooperate with the investigation, shall meet the investigating officer once a week till submission of report in final form and shall not threaten or intimidate witnesses.
The application for anticipatory bail is, thus, disposed of. Urgent photostat certified copy of this order, if applied for, be supplied to the parties upon compliance of requisite formalities.
(Jay Sengupta, J.)