Supreme Court has arrested his wife in Raja Raghunvashi murder case. Sonam Raghunvashi Bail has been rejected. Sonam was granted bail by the lower court of Meghalaya in April. In July, Meghalaya High Court had upheld Sonam's bail, but the Supreme Court has now canceled it. The court has given Sonam 3 weeks time to surrender. In its order, the Supreme Court said that we are aware that getting bail is the rule and jail is the exception. Despite this, the bail of the accused is being cancelled.
A day earlier, on July 22, in a bail case, the Supreme Court had said that if the High Court grants bail to someone, then a petition should not be filed against him in the Supreme Court. The bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant said that due to such cases the number of cases in the Supreme Court is increasing.
In 1977, Justice VR Krishna Iyer mentioned this in his judgment in the case of State of Rajasthan vs Balchand. He said that this is the basic principle. Chief Justice PN Bhagwati said in one of his decisions that if the High Court has accepted someone's bail, then there is no need to listen to the Supreme Court.
On Wednesday (July 22), the bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant kept Chaitanya Baghel's bail intact on this basis. The Chief Justice told the Chhattisgarh government that 10 such cases are coming every day.
The Supreme Court has also commented in the Sonam Raghuvanshi case that bail is the rule and jail is an exception, but Sonam Raghuvanshi's bail, which was upheld by the High Court, has been canceled by the Supreme Court. The question is arising that why did this happen?
On June 29, the High Court had upheld the bail of Sonam Raghuvanshi with 4 conditions. The High Court said that if Sonam follows the conditions then her bail plea can be sustained. The conditions with which Sonam Raghuvanshi's bail was maintained mainly included not tampering with witnesses or evidence and being present in the court at every hearing.
In April, the lower court of Meghalaya had granted bail to Sonam Raghuvanshi. Since then Sonam is living at some unknown place in Meghalaya.
The Supreme Court said in its decision that there was no flaw in the arrest process. The defendant was informed of the reason for his arrest. After the murder of Raja Raghuvanshi, the defendant i.e. Sonam was missing for which they have no reason. In such a situation, she is not entitled to bail on merit. The Supreme Court said that if the trial is delayed, Sonam can apply for bail again after six months.
According to Tushar Mehta, not only were the grounds for arrest told to the appellant, but related documents were also given. She was satisfied with the correct adherence to the rules and the magistrate himself had recorded this. No reason was given for his disappearance. Such a thing cannot be accepted as a well thought out argument later on.
The SG, appearing for the Meghalaya government, said that the judgment given in the Mihir Rajesh Shah case is applicable to future cases. This is a matter of surrender.
While giving the verdict, the Supreme Court said that we are considering a case in which the bail application has already been rejected on the basis of merit and those orders have become final. The hearing of the case has started. We believe that continuing the bail at this stage may hinder the ongoing trial. We are canceling the disputed order.
The Supreme Court further said that if the trial does not proceed or is not completed within 6 months, the defendant can file a fresh bail application.
During the hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said that due to such cases there has been a decline in trust between husband and wife. Mehta further said- There are comic reels in which the husband takes bodyguards with him on his honeymoon trip. The trust or relationship between husband and wife is weakening due to such matters.
He further said that earlier the joint family system used to maintain relationships. This is not the case in nuclear family. People get worried immediately. Go into depression.
