Lekha G –
The Supreme Court has granted interim bail to a man for six weeks, accused of dowry demands causing his wife’s death to allow him to take care of his three-year-old sick daughter.
The Bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and MR Shah said, “Considering the fact that the three-year-old daughter of the petitioner is suffering from Acute Bacillary Dysentery-C, anaemia and she needs optimum care and supervision, we deem it fit at this stage to release the petitioner on…interim bail for a period of six weeks.”
The man’s wife was found hanging in their house in Agra. The man’s father-in-law filed a dowry death and harassment case against the man. However, the man’s family maintained that the women died by suicide after two miscarriages and the couple had adopted the girl.
The Agra police concluded that the woman died by suicide after being tortured for dowry and arrested him on August 7, 2020.
The Allahabad High Court granted anticipatory bail to the woman’s-in-laws but the same was challenged by the man’s father-in-law in Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court said that the suicide note of the woman leaked to media compromised the fairness of the investigation and cancelling the pre-arrest bail of her in-laws handed over the probe to the CBI.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi appearing for the accused asked for an interim bail to ensure the well-being of the man’s daughter and also said that the man’s father-in-law supported the plea for bail.
Sanjay Khare, lawyer for the child’s grandfather said, “She has always stayed with her father and mother after her adoption. She does not eat properly, nor does she sleep well. The child has a depressive state of mind. She keeps asking about her father and mother. We are supporting this plea only in the interest of the child.”