Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 4

A local court has denied bail to a mother-son duo facing charges of abetment to suicide. The police had arrested Arnav Kashyap (20) and her mother Seema Kashyap after registering an FIR against them on the complaint of Prem Lata, daughter of late Deshraj, for offences under Sections 306, 120-B and 201 of the IPC at the Sector 17 police station in Chandigarh on October 30, 2020.

Prem Lata, a resident of Delhi, alleged that her father, Deshraj, allegedly committed suicide due to alleged ill-treatment and harassment by his daughter-in-law Seema and grandson Arnav. In the complaint, she stated that her brother was residing in Sector 22-B, Chandigarh, along with their parents. She alleged that his family was not taking care of her parents. Whenever she used to talk to her father on phone, he always used to tell her that Seema and Arnav used to harass him and they never used to take care of him.

On October 29, 2020, she received a call from her brother. When she reached Chandigarh, along with her family, she saw that the body of her father was kept in a freezer. She got suspicious when she noticed marks around her father’s neck. She informed the police about the incident. After investigation, the police arrested the mother-son duo.

The counsel for the applicants pleaded for interim bail, saying they have been in custody since their arrest. The challan has already been filed and the charges have also been framed against the applicants. There is every apprehension of applicants contracting Covid-19 in the jail as the jail authorities are unable to maintain proper hygiene on the premises. He said they had been falsely implicated in the case for no fault of theirs.

Public prosecutor JP Singh strongly opposed the bail on the basis of the severity of the offence. He also claimed that necessary steps were being taken to maintain high level of hygiene on the jail premises.

After hearing the arguments, Narender, Additional Sessions Judge, Chandigarh, dismissed the interim bail application, saying mere long custody does not make the accused entitled to be given concession of bail.