MUMBAI: A 34-year-old beggar living under the Bandra skywalk and accused of murdering her husband with a paver block a year ago, spent over five additional months in jail despite being granted interim bail in May, as she could not furnish the surety of Rs 50,000.
The woman was once again granted bail by a sessions court last week.
The court reasoned that both accused Mehrunissa Singh and her husband were heavily drunk. “…accused had dealt the blow of paver block on the head of the deceased simply because the deceased had earlier injured her with the same paver block. There does not appear any intention on her part to commit murder of her husband,” the sessions court said.
Advocates Chandni Chawla and Payoshi Roy sought bail for Singh, submitted that she has been in custody since October 2020. In this order, the court allowed Singh to be released on a provisional cash bail of Rs 15,000, a much simpler process than furnishing surety.
“The accused shall furnish surety (of Rs 15,000) within 4 weeks from the date of release, failing which the cash bail shall stand forfeited without any separate order to that effect,” the court said. For a surety of over Rs 15,000, one has to furnish a solvency certificate of an immovable property worth that much or more. For a surety of Rs 15,000 or lesser, income certificate, ration card and proof of residence is enough.
It is the prosecution’s case, that the couple who had a daughter, were addicted to alcohol. It was submitted that they used to quarrel every day when drunk.
It was further alleged that on October 2, 2020, they both drank and started quarrelling. During the quarrel, the husband threw a paver block at Singh. She sustained a bleeding head injury. The prosecution alleged that after the husband went to sleep, out of anger, Singh threw a paver block on his head. Thereafter, they both continued sleeping.
The prosecution told the court that the following morning the child got up and realised that her mother was injured and her father was not moving. She called the neighours who came and informed the police. Later, the offence was registered.
Granting Singh bail, the court said, “It is also very clear that they used to take shelter at the sky walk and would beg to survive. There appears no likelihood of any tampering with evidence. In such circumstances, and particularly when the chargesheet is already filed, further detention of the accused does not seem necessary.”
