Highly Improbable That Mother Would Strangulate Her Daughter For Mere Ninety Thousand Rupees From Life Insurance Policy: P&H High Court While Granting Bail
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has granted bail to a woman who was accused of killing her daughter and held that it is highly improbable that a mother would strangulate her daughter for a mere Rs. 90,000. The Court allowed the bail application and noted that the prosecution was unable to prove their case for the purposes of such bail application.
Justice Sandeep Moudgil observed, “Thus it is highly improbable that merely for Rs.90,000/-, a biological mother would kill her own daughter and over and above had to use 2 'chunnis' to strangulate a minor girl”.
Advocate Amandeep Singh Rai appeared for the Petitioner, and Deputy Attorney General Rajiv Verma appeared for the Respondent.
A Petition was filed seeking bail in an FIR registered under Sections 302, 120-B, 182, and 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Per the FIR, the dead body of the daughter of the Petitioner was found, and the post-mortem report revealed that the death was not natural and was caused due to asphyxiation. The police investigation revealed that the deceased was born out of the first marriage of the Petitioner, which caused disputes in her second marriage. The FIR stated that the deceased's mother and stepfather strangulated her.
The Petitioner contended that the police report was solely based on the confession statement made before the police by the Petitioner and co-accused. In contrast, the State contended that the parents were unable to pay installments of a new property they had purchased and killed their daughter to claim Rs 90,000 from the Life Insurance Policy.
The Court noted that the Petitioner has been behind bars for the last two years, two months, and 21 days and the trial is almost at the fag end as all the material witnesses stand examined. The Court also emphasized that the Petitioner has another six-year-old minor child.
“The story put forth by the prosecution is not sufficient enough to inspire confidence of this Court at least for the purpose of considering the instant petition for regular bail. The principle of criminal jurisprudence “bail is a rule and jail is an exception” needs to be borne in mind by this Court alongwith the right to life as enshrined under Article 21 of the Constitution of India”, the Court noted.
Accordingly, the Court allowed the Petition and granted bail to the Petitioner.
Cause Title: Pinki v State of Punjab [Neutral Citation No:=2023:PHHC:122084]
