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The Supreme Court on Friday refused to stay the bail granted to Sonam Raghuvanshi, a key accused in the murder of her husband Raja Raghuvanshi, while agreeing to hear the Meghalaya government's challenge to the order.
A bench of Justices MM Sundresh and Sheel Nagu observed that, prima facie, it had reservations about the Meghalaya High Court's approach in granting bail. However, the court declined to suspend the relief since Sonam had already been released and the matter would ultimately be decided during the trial. The bench verbally observed that this was not a case where the grounds of arrest had not been supplied to the accused in their entirety. Nevertheless, it noted that once an accused has been released on bail, the court should exercise caution before reversing such an order. "No matter how heinous the crime is, bail is the rule and jail is the exception," the bench observed, while adding, "We do have reservations about how the High Court has been dealing with the case." The apex court has asked Sonam's lawyer to file a counter affidavit to the Meghalaya government's plea opposing her bail. The matter will be heard next Thursday. The Meghalaya government had moved the Supreme Court on Thursday against the High Court order upholding the bail granted to Sonam. The matter was mentioned before the bench by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the state government, who sought an urgent hearing. Mehta submitted that Sonam's bail had been rejected on three earlier occasions due to concerns that she could abscond. However, the High Court later upheld the trial court's order granting bail on the ground that the grounds of arrest had not been fully supplied to her at the time of arrest, with the alleged deficiency relating to a typographical error in mentioning a statutory provision. The Solicitor General also expressed apprehension that Sonam could abscond after being released on bail and urged the court to either stay the order or impose stringent conditions. The case pertains to the alleged murder of Raja Raghuvanshi, a newlywed from Indore, Madhya Pradesh, who had travelled to Meghalaya with his wife, Sonam, for their honeymoon. Raja's body was recovered from a gorge near Sohra on June 2 after the couple went missing. Following the investigation, the Meghalaya Police Special Investigation Team (SIT) filed a chargesheet naming Sonam Raghuvanshi, Raj Kushwaha, Vishal Singh Chauhan, Ashish Singh Rajput and Anand Kurmi as accused under various provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. (ANI)
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