Covid-19 forces kids out of hostel, murder-convict mom gets bail

Saeed Khan | TNN | Apr 19, 2020, 06:43 IST

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AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat high court has granted temporary bail to a woman convict to arrange for a stay for her children, who were shifted from a residential hostel to her brother's house following the coronavirus outbreak. However, the brother later expressed his inability to keep the kids for long due to the challenges of the pandemic.
Due to ban on travel following the enforcement of national lockdown till May 3, the HC bench headed by Justice N V Anjaria on Friday also ordered the Rajkot jail authorities to make proper arrangement for the woman for travel to Halvad, where her two sons are staying at present.
In this case, Gangaben Sonagara, serving life imprisonment for killing her husband three years ago, had requested the HC for temporary bail. She submitted that following her conviction, her two sons were placed in the Swami Gurukul Ashram in Dhrangadhra.
When the lockdown was announced, majority of the people took away their children from the hostel facilities. Sonagara’s brother Shankar too brought her two sons, aged 14 years and 11 years, to his home at Halvad. But as the situation worsened, the maternal uncle informed the authorities that he would be unable to care for the children for long.
Murder-convict mom gets bail
As her brother’s message reached the woman convict, the mother urged the court to release her for a brief period so that she could arrange for her children’s stay at some other relative’s place.
The HC granted Sonagara bail for 10 days to take care of her sons and arrange for their stay. Meanwhile, the court inquired with public prosecutor Mitesh Amin about the condition in such hostels. He informed the court that the hostel facility in Dhrangadhra is operational and the government department has been taking proper care for safety of children placed in such hostels.
While granting bail to Sonagara, the HC made it clear that she would not be granted bail again, if she failed to make arrangement for her kids’ stay. They would be taken back to the gurukul ashram only. Other woman in Rajkot jail, Rekhaben Gohil, also a murder convict, was not so lucky to come out of jail to meet her three children, who are placed in Home for Boys in Rajkot, a government’s facility where children of such convicts are placed.