Srinagar: Observing that bail was exemption in crimes of heinous nature, the Jammu and Kashmir High Court has ordered committing to judicial custody of a man who was granted bail by trial court in Anantnag last year in case involving murdering of his pregnant wife by mounting both his feet upon her.
Hearing a plea by father of the victim woman, a bench of Justice M K Hanjura ordered the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Anantnag to execute the order with “utmost dispatch’ even as the court sought objections by the accused—Bilal Ahmad Sofi—within two weeks.
Ghulam Mohammad Bhat, the father of the victim, had filed a plea against 13 December 2017 order of the Principal Sessions Judge Anantnag, by virtue of which Sofi was admitted to bail for an offence under section 302 RPC Bhat had sought indulgence of High Court in quashing the order on the grounds that Sofi, who was married to his daughter, Sami Jan, barged into his residence in the absence of the family members.
He attacked his daughter, knocked her down and with the intention to kill her, mounted both his feet upon her, as a consequence of which she sustained serious injuries. She was taken to the hospital, where she died along with a fetus of three months.
Subsequently, Bhat reported the occurrence to the police and a case (F.I.R No. 20/2017) came to be registered. The completion of the investigation of the case culminated into filing of a charge sheet for the commission of an offence under section 302 RPC (murder) against Sofi.
The accused filed an application for the grant of bail in his favour and the Principal Sessions Judge, Anantnag, by his order dated 13 December 2017, granted interim bail to him. “The impugned order dated 13-12-2017, passed by the trial Court, does not seem to be in tune and in line with the mandate of law. The offence, with which (Sofi) has been charged, is a heinous one and in a case of such nature, grant of bail is an exception, which has to be carved out on the well settled principles of law,” the court said.
“The trial Court has embarked upon the prohibited path of the appreciation of evidence and has come to the conclusion that (Sofi) deserves and is entitled to be admitted to bail. The law is that elaborate documentation is no required in the bail Petitions, whereas the order impugned depicts that the same has been passed in such a manner as if a judgment of acquittal had to be recorded in the case,” the court said and issued a notice, returnable within two weeks, Sofi for filing objections, if any. “In the meantime, taking into consideration the gravity of the offence and the nature of the evidence that has come forward in the case, (Sofi) shall be committed to judicial custody,” the court said and asked the SSP to execute the order with utmost dispatch.
