'They Were Living Separately': Gujarat High Court Grants Anticipatory Bail To Police Personnel & His Wife Accused Of Harassing Daughter-in-Law

The Gujarat High Court has recently granted anticipatory bail to a public servant employed in the Police force and his wife, in a case of dowry harassment initiated at the instance of their daughter in law.Justice Nikhil S Kariel observed that merely because the accused father-in-law is in Police is no ground to deny him anticipatory bail and adequate conditions can be imposed to prevent tampering of evidence. In fact, the bench was of the view that the father-in-law being a public servant, there could not be any apprehension that he would flee from trial. The Bench also observed that though allegations of harassment were levelled, however, the accused father-in-law and mother-in-law "more or less were residing separately"."It may have been that during the time when the applicant No.1, was facing proceedings under the Prevention of Corruption Act, that he may have lived with his son and her daughter-in-law, but at the same time the documents relied upon by the applicants which are not controverted by the complainant clearly reflect that the daughter of the complainant and her husband were staying independently."The case was an upshot of the daughter-in-law going missing, leaving a suicide note behind in 2021. The applicants were accused of offences under Sections 498(A), 377, 323, 294(B), 506(2) and 114 of IPC and Sections 3 and 7 of the Dowry Prohibition Act.The applicants averred that the daughter-in-law and their son last lived together in a property purchased in her name from 2018 onwards. Meanwhile, the father-in-law was working in the Gujarat Police force and was working across the state and therefore, had visited his son and family but had not lived with his daughter-in-law. Per contra, the Complainant (father of daughter-in-law) stated that even though his daughter and her husband were living independently, the in-laws were in the same building. He even complained of being threatened by the applicants. The State also resisted grant of anticipatory bail on the ground that a witness was present when the applicants threatened the complainant. The Bench noted that barring the instant Applicants and their son, all other accused in the case were on bail. The High Court also did not accord much importance to the statement of the witness at that stage and keeping in view the profile of the Applicant, granted anticipatory bail on a personal bond of Rs. 25,000. Case Title: PRATAPDAN SHAMALDAN GADHV v/s STATE OF GUJARAT Case No.: R/CR.MA/14585/2021Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Guj) 231 Click Here To Read/Download Order

'They Were Living Separately': Gujarat High Court Grants Anticipatory Bail To Police Personnel & His Wife Accused Of Harassing Daughter-in-Law

PRIYANKA PREET

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