The Madhya Pradesh High Court has denied bail to retired judge Giribala Singh, an accused in the dowry death case of her daughter-in-law, Twisha Sharma. [2026 LiveLaw (MP) 449]
The bench of Justice Ajay Kumar Nirankari held:
"Considering the overall facts and circumstances of the case, the nature and gravity of the allegations, the material collected during investigation, the circumstances immediately preceding the death of the deceased, the CCTV footage, the post-mortem reports and, particularly, the fact that further investigation under Section 193(9) of the BNSS is still in progress and important forensic reports and digital extraction reports are awaited, this Court is not inclined to enlarge the applicant on bail at this stage".
The deceased was a 33-year-old woman residing in Noida and a former Miss Pune winner, who was discovered hanging at her husband's residence in Bhopal's Katara Hills on May 12.
The deceased's family had accused the in-laws of persistent domestic violence and harassment and therefore had demanded a second post-mortem to ascertain the actual cause of her death. An FIR in the matter was initially registered under Sections 80(2) (dowry death), 85 (cruelty), and 3(5) (common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS), along with Sections 3 and 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act.
The court in the previous hearing had reserved its verdict after hearing submissions of the parties.
The court examined the case diary and noted that there were pregnancy-related disputes between the deceased and the applicant. From the transcript of their recorded conversation, the court noted that the dispute arose after the deceased took MTP pills for termination of pregnancy.
Further, the bench emphasised that WhatsApp conversations between the deceased, her mother and sister-in-law show that she was allegedly "subjected to continuous mental harassment and cruelty by the accused persons". The evidence suggested that the deceased felt suffocated over her husband questioning the paternity of the child in the matrimonial relationship and expressed thoughts of ending her life.
The bench noted that further investigation into allegations of dowry demand and dowry death are pending. Additionally, the forensic examination of the data extracted from the phone of the deceased is still awaited, which might further reveal material relevant to the allegations.
Rejecting the applicant's contention regarding absence of mens rea, the court noted that it could not be examined in isolation from other circumstances emerging from the case diary and is required to be considered in view of the entire material collected through investigation.
Background
The case was initially registered by the Police Station in Katra Hills, but upon orders of the Supreme Court, the case was subsequently transferred to the CBI.
Giribala was earlier granted anticipatory bail by a Bhopal trial court on May 15. The State and the deceased's parents challenged the order before the High Court, which quashed her anticipatory bail on May 27.
For Petitioner: Senior Advocates Surendra Singh and Ajay Gupta, with Advocates Kapil Pathak, Shivam Singh, Enosh George Carlo, Aswani Kumar Dubey and Deepak Kumar Raghuwanshi
For CBI: Additional Solicitor General Sunil Jain, Deputy Solicitor General Suyash Mohan Guru, with Advocates Anuj Karnatak, Kartik Dubey and Abhishek Dwivedi
For Objector (deceased's father): Senior Advocate Siddharth Aggarwal with Advocates Navnidhi Sharma, Vishwajeet Singh Bhati, Piyush Tiwari, Vikarm Johri, Akshat Patria, Ankur Pandey and Rushika Patil