Bail not a matter of right, says Delhi court while rejecting murder accused's plea

NEW DELHI: The position in law is as old as the hills that bail is not a matter of right, said a Delhi court and refused to release a man facing trial in a murder case. Interestingly, the man had cited his wife's hospitalization, reasoning there was no one to look after her owing to his inter-caste marriage.
Additional sessions judge Hargurvarinder Singh Jaggi, however, noted that the accused Amit was facing trial for the "heinous" offence under Section 302 of the IPC, 1860 and Sections 25, 27 of the Arms Act, 1959. "Factors such as seriousness of the charge; nature of the evidence in support of the charge; the likely sentence to be imposed upon conviction; the possibility of interference with witnesses; the objection of the prosecution and the possibility of absconding from justice weigh the scales down towards grant of interim bail to the applicant," the court said.
The applicant's counsel earlier sought an interim bail for his client submitting that his wife was admitted at a hospital at Najafgarh, Delhi on account of severe abdominal pain due to gall stones and fatty liver. It was also argued that his mother was unable to take care of his minor children owing to kidney ailments. The counsel further stated that other family ties were broken due to his client’s inter-caste marriage. Therefore, it had turned "imminent that the applicant is let out on bail," he added.
The additional public prosecutor, on the contrary, argued that the accused had been charged with a heinous crime. Besides, it was argued that the case’s informant was the eye witness and with the case at the stage of prosecution evidence, it was quite likely that the undertrial would threaten and suborn key witnesses.
The prosecutor also raised doubts over the medical documents placed on record by the undertrial stating his wife's ill health and argued that it could have been procured easily from a private hospital. The man's counsel rebutted the arguments saying given the current Covid-19 pandemic it was not possible to take the applicant’s wife to a government hospital.
Taking note of the submissions, the court dismissed the man’s interim bail plea. “This court also observes that the chances of the applicant suborning the key eyewitnesses are highly likely, as one the eye witnesses is closely related to the applicant. Lastly, the course of justice would be thwarted by the applicant, who is charged with the heinous offence of murder,” it observed.