Jyoti v. State of Punjab

ANOOP CHITKARA, J. FIR No. Dated Police Sta2on Sec2ons 412 15.09.2024 Zirakpur, District 364, 365, 302, 34, 201 IPC SAS Nagar, Mohali

¶1The pettoner apprehending arrest in the FIR captoned above has come up before this Court under Secton 482 of Bharatya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, [BNSS], seeking antcipatory bail.

¶2In paragraph 17 of the bail petton, the accused declares that she has no criminal antecedents.

¶3The facts and allegatons are taken from the status report filed by the State, which reads as follows: "1. That it is respec>ully submited here that an FIR No. 412 dated

15.09.2024 has been registered on the basis of the statement of the complainant namely Karam Singh, in which he broadly stated that the marriage of his son namely Jaswinder Singh was solemnized about 18 years ago with Jyo+/the Pe++oner. His son had one son namely Fath Singh, aged about 12 years. His son was CRM-M-7984-2025 2 50% disabled due to injuries caused to him in a road accident. His daughter-in-law/the Pe++oner had started raising dispute and was pressurizing them to sell the property. Hence the complainant had sold all his proper+es and divided equally among his two sons as per their respec+ve shares. The complainant further stated that his daughter-in-law/the Pe++oner had forcibly transferred all of the proper+es in her name which was owned and purchased by his son. The complainant further stated that his daughter-in-law/the Pe++oner was having an extra-marital affair with one person namely Nishan Singh resident of Amritsar. His daughter-in-law/the Pe++oner and Nishan Singh had declared themselves as husband and wife among neighbours at Mohali. The complainant further stated that his Daughter-in-law Jyo+/the Pe++oner in connivance with Nishani Singh, Resham Singh @ Sukhdev Singh resident of Amritsar had kidnapped his son and had kept him at some unknown place in order to usurp his property and money. The complainant further stated that his son had come to meet his at village Dyalpur in January 2024. Therea;er, he did not have any talk with his son nor he had met him. The complainant apprehended danger to the life of his son and sought legal ac+on against his Daughter-in-law namely Jyo+/the Pe++oner, Nishan Singh and Resham Singh @ Sukhdev Singh. As the statement prima facie disclosed commission of cognizable offence, hence FIR No. 412 dated 15.09.2024 has been registered under sec+on 365, 34 IPC against Jyo+/the Pe++oner, Nishan Singh and Resham Singh @ Sukhdev Singh."

¶4Counsel for the pettoner seeks bail on the grounds of false implicaton by the pettoner's father-in-law. He argued that the only evidence that the prosecuton has collected against the pettoner is based on an extrajudicial confession made by co-accused Nishant Singh and Resham Singh recorded on 21.09.2024. However, such confessions of co-accused have no legal value. He refers to suicide note as Annexures P-6 and translaton of video recorded by deceased as Annexure P-7, which were purportedly made by the pettoner's husband, who is stated to have been murdered.

¶5The pettoner's counsel prays for bail by imposing any stringent conditons and contends that pre-trial incarceraton would cause an irreversible injustce to the pettoner CRM-M-7984-2025 3

¶6The State's counsel as well as counsel for the complainant opposes bail and refers to the status report. Counsel for the complainant submits that corpus of delict has not been recovered so far, in case the same is recovered in that case, police will be able to find out truth, as such, bail shall not be granted to the pettoner.

¶7It would be appropriate to refer to the following portons of the status report, which read as follows: "ROLE OF THE PETITIONER

¶15That the role of the Pe++oner is that of a main-conspirator. It has come on record that the pe++oner was having an extra-marital affair with her co-accused Nishan Singh. Even Nishan Singh in his confessional statement has admited that the Pe++oner is having a son and he is the father of the same. As per the confession of the co-accused, they in furtherance of conspiracy and on ins+ga+on of the Pe++oner had brought the deceased Jaswinder Singh at Kothi No. 52, RS Enclave Ghanepar Kale, Police Sta+on Cheharta, District Amritsar and killed him by strangula+on. Therea;er, they had taken the dead body of Jaswinder Singh in the car owned by the Pe++oner and further threw the dead body in drain as men+oned above. EVIDENCE AGAINST THE PETITIONER

¶16That during inves+ga+on, it came forth that the Jyo+/the pe++oner is transferring the money from the account of the deceased through his mobile phone to her own account. In this regard the SBI Bank account no. 65051xxxxx statement of the deceased namely Jaswinder Singh was obtained. The Bank account statement of the deceased shows that more than 31 lakhs had been transferred from the aforesaid SBI account of the deceased in the account of Jyo+/the Pe++oner from 01.09.2024 to

16.09.2024." REASONING:

¶8An analysis of the arguments made by the pettoner and the response made by the State counsel and the Complainant's counsel would lead to the following outcome.

¶9It is appropriate to re-extract the suicide notes (Annexures P-6 and P-7), which read as follows: - JYOTI "Annexure P-6 CRM-M-7984-2025 4 I, Jaswinder Singh in my full senses, sta+ng that I am remaining in tension due to my physical pain of life, whereas my wife takes full care of me. But my mental status of pain does not remain good, as such I am ending my life, in which no my wife and my any rela+ve is involved. xxx xxx." "Annexure P-7 Transcrip+on of CD Waheguru Ji Ki Khalsa Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh. I Jaswinder Singh son of Karan Singh, am resident of Village Diyalpura, District Mohali. I am mentally very much tense as such I am ending my life. No one is responsible for the same. My wife Jyo+, my Fateh are my heirs of my property. Except these no one is heir of my property. Whatever the property, both of them are owners house, shops and land. They can take their right legally at any point of +me. It is their right, they may not be tortured, they may live their lives as per their wish. I am mentally very tense. As such, I am taking this decision. Waheguru Ji Ki Khalsa Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh."

¶10On the face of it, the video of the suicide appears to be neither a deep-fake nor clipped nor State contradict the same.

¶11As of date, the dead body has not been recovered. It means it is a case of corpus delict. Given the suicide note, if the person is found to be dead, it cannot be ascertained at this stage that whether the cause of death was suicide, homicide or any other reason. In the background and prima facie authentcity of the video made by deceased, to curtail liberty of the pettoner simply because the offence falls under Secton 302 IPC would not come in the way tll the tme of recovery of dead body and consequent post mortem and finding thereupon.

¶12However, the pettoner is granted interim bail untl the recovery of the body and for a period of 15 days beyond the postmortem. If the postmortem report indicates homicide, this interim bail shall automatcally be revoked without any further reference to this Court. This Court granted interim bail based on the contents of the suicide notes and the corpus delict. This means that once the body is recovered and if the findings point toward homicide, the grounds for grantng the interim bail will be rendered invalid due to the medical evidence, and therefore, the interim bail cannot remain in effect. Given the evidence presented through the suicide notes, this case warrants interim bail.

¶13Thus in the facts and circumstances mentoned above, this Court deems it fit and CRM-M-7984-2025 5 appropriate to grant interim bail to the pettoner tll the recovery of dead body and 15 days beyond post mortem report provided the post-mortem indicts towards the cause of death. However, if the dead body is recovered and post-mortem findings point towards suicide, then this bail shall become absolute automatcally but in case, the post mortem report suggests the cause of death as homicide or culpable homicide, then this order of bail shall stand automatcally recalled within 15 days of receipt of such post-mortem. Given this, the concerned investgator/SHO/Deputy Superintendent of Police are directed to communicate the outcome of the post-mortem report to the pettoner to enable her to take appropriate legal recourse.

¶14Without commentng on the case's merits, in the facts and circumstances peculiar to this case, and for the reasons mentoned above, the pettoner makes a case for interim bail.

¶15Given above, provided the pettoner is not required in any other case, the pettoner shall be released on antcipatory interim bail as detailed in para No.13 of this order in the FIR captoned above subject to furnishing bonds to the satsfacton of the Arrestng Officer, and if the maJer is before a Court, then the concerned Court and due to unavailability before any nearest Ilaqa Magistrate/duty Magistrate. Before acceptng the surety, the concerned Officer/Court must be satsfied that if the accused fails to appear, such surety can produce the accused.

¶16While furnishing a personal bond, the pettoner shall menton the following personal identficaton details:

¶1AADHAR number

¶2Passport number (If available) and when the aJestng officer/court considers it appropriate or considers the accused a flight risk.

¶3Mobile number (If available)

¶4E-Mail id (If available)

¶17This order is subject to the pettoner's complying with the following terms.

¶18The pe++oner is directed to join the inves+ga+on as and when called by the Inves+gator. The pettoner shall be in deemed custody for Secton 27 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872/ Secton 23 of BSA, 2023. The pettoner shall join the investgaton as and when called by the Investgatng Officer or any Superior Officer and shall cooperate with the investgaton at all further stages as required. In the event of failure to do so, the prosecuton will be open to seeking cancellaton of the bail. During the investgaton, the pettoner shall not be subjected to third-degree, indecent language, inhuman treatment, etc.

¶19The pettoner shall abide by all statutory bond conditons and appear before the JYOTI concerned Court(s) on all dates. The pettoner shall not tamper with the evidence, influence, CRM-M-7984-2025 6 browbeat, pressurize, induce, threaten, or promise, directly or indirectly, any witnesses, Police officials, or any other person acquainted with the facts and circumstances of the case or dissuade them from disclosing such facts to the Police or the Court.

¶20In case the Investgator/Officer-In-Charge of the concerned Police Staton arraigns another secton of any penal offense in this FIR, and if the new secton prescribes a maximum sentence that is not greater than the sectons mentoned above, then this bail order shall be deemed to have also been passed for the newly added secton(s). However, suppose the newly inserted sectons prescribe a sentence exceeding the maximum sentence prescribed in the sectons mentoned above; then, in that case, the Investgator/Officer-In-Charge shall give the pettoner notce of a minimum of seven days, providing an opportunity to avail the remedies available in law.

¶21Any observaton made hereinabove is neither an expression of opinion on the case's merits nor shall the trial Court advert to these comments.

¶22A certfied copy of this order would not be needed for furnishing bonds, and any Advocate for the Pettoner can download this order along with case status from the official web page of this Court and aJest it to be a true copy. If the aJestng officer wants to verify its authentcity, such an officer can also verify its authentcity and may download and use the downloaded copy for aJestng bonds.

¶23Petton stands disposed of in the aforesaid terms. All pending miscellaneous applicatons, if any, stand disposed of. (ANOOP CHITKARA) JUDGE

12.03.2025 Jyot-II Whether reportable: Yes/No.

CRM-M-7984-2025 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH CRM-M-7984-2025 Reserved on: 03.03.2025 Pronounced on: 12.03.2025 Jyot ...Pettoner Versus State of Punjab …Respondent CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ANOOP CHITKARA Present: Mr. Jajot Singh Lalli, Advocate for the pettoner. Mr. Sukhdev Singh, A.A.G, Punjab. Mr. Suvir Sidhu, Advocate (through video conferencing) and Mr. Pranshul Dhull, Advocate for the complainant. *****