Delhi HC grants interim bail to pregnant woman accused of kidnapping relative
Aug 19, 2022
New Delhi [India], August 19 : The Delhi High Court has granted interim bail to a pregnant woman accused of "kidnapping" one of her own relatives.
"Every pregnant female deserves the dignity enshrined under Article 21 of the Constitution of India during motherhood," the court said.
The High Court granted relief to the accused to allow her to deliver her child out of the prison.
Justice Anoop Kumar Mendiratta granted three months interim bail to accused Kajal on furnishing a bond of Rs 20,000 and one surety bond in the like amount. Earlier, a case was registered against the woman and others at police station Rajouri Garden in 2021.
Justice Mendiratta observed, "Every pregnant female deserves the dignity enshrined under Article 21 of the Constitution of India during motherhood. The Court is expected to take note of the interest of a child, who is not expected to be exposed to prison, until and unless there is a grave danger in releasing the petitioner on bail."
"The Court is required to give due weightage to the aspects like nature and gravity of the offence and the impact of such an offence committed, on the society for consideration of bail," the bench said.
"However, pregnancy of a woman is a special circumstance which needs to be appreciated, as giving birth to a child while in custody, would not only be a trauma to the mother but also create an everlasting adverse impact on the child, whenever questioned about his birth," the bench observed.
Even the proviso to Section 437(1) of the code of criminal procedure also provides that the condition of not releasing a person on bail charged with an offence punishable with death or imprisonment for life shall not be applicable if such person is under the age of sixteen years or is a woman or sick or infirm subject to such conditions as may be imposed, the court said.
The bench also noticed that even Rule 1459 of Delhi Prison Rules 2018 provides that as far as possible (provided the prisoner has a suitable option) arrangements for temporary release (or suspension of sentence in the case of a casual offender) will be made to enable a prisoner to deliver a child in a hospital outside the prison.
Only when there is a high-security risk in the case of any particular woman prisoner, the facility to deliver the child outside the prison shall be denied, the bench said.
The accused Kajal had moved an application seeking six months of interim bail in view of her pregnancy and delivery of the child.
In this case, FIR was registered on the statement of injured/victim Raman who had performed marriage with Menka (another victim/injured) against the consent of her parents on 21 December 2021.
However, family members of Menka allegedly abducted the couple on 22 December 2021 and after brutally beating him up, his private part was amputated with an axe and he also received stab injuries.
Further, the complainant was thrown into a drain from where he was rescued by his brother and was admitted to AIIMS Trauma Centre.
Additional Public Prosecutor for State opposed the bail application and submitted that 16 members of the same family have been arrested while 3 of them are still absconding and 2 other family members have also been charge-sheeted without arrest.
It was also submitted that the women of the house had played an active role in the commitment of a crime.
It is also pointed out that there is no complication in the pregnancy of the petitioner, though it is admitted that the expected date of delivery of the petitioner is 25 August 2022, an additional public prosecutor argued.
