Bail granted to 22-year-old arrested for attempt to kill his girlfriend at Bandstand

A 22-year-old student has been granted bail after allegedly assaulting and attempting to kill his girlfriend in Bandra. He claims it was an accident.

MUMBAI: A sessions court on Wednesday granted bail to a 22-year-old student who allegedly assaulted and attempted to kill his girlfriend at Bandstand in Bandra in May 2023.

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Akash Mukherjee had sought bail on the grounds that he had been falsely implicated in the case and that Mukherjee had no intention to murder his friend and informant, Lubna Sukate. He claimed that when they were sitting together, the woman bit his two fingers and as a reaction he pulled his hand and she lost her balance due to the sudden jerk and fell on the rocks and suffered injuries, he claimed.

Public prosecutor Ashwini Raykar strongly resisted the bail, submitting that Mukherjee was not a permanent resident of the city and hence, the possibility of him fleeing from justice or tampering with the evidence cannot be overlooked.

According to the police, Mukherjee and Sukate, 28, met at work a couple of years ago and had been in a relationship for around 13 months prior to the incident. On May 31, 2023, the couple from Kalyan decided to spend the day in Mumbai. “They visited the Gateway of India before going to Bandstand in the evening and discussed their wedding plans,” the officer said.

When they were sitting on the docks around 9.30pm, Sukate told him that she would like to go home. “However, Mukherjee suggested they should spend some more time together and later take a cab home, instead of a train. In the meantime, he suggested they get intimate, which made Sukate uncomfortable.”

When she started crying, Mukherjee shoved his hands on her mouth, the police officer said. “He then started to strangulate her. He also held her by the hair and pushed her head towards the rocks. He also shoved her face into a nearby puddle,” the officer added.

The woman screamed for help which drew the attention of bystanders sitting nearby. Sukate was rescued and Mukherjee, who tried to flee, was caught by people. Due to the commotion, some policemen who were deployed in the vicinity came to the spot and took the woman to the hospital.

“According to medical examination, it can be construed that such injuries sustained by Sukate are not possible by just a fall on the rocks,” said additional sessions judge SN Patil while granting the accused bail. He further added that the prosecution had failed to present the pre-intention of the accused for committing murder of the victim and held that further detention of the accused was not required considering that the investigation had been completed.

The court also relied on a Supreme Court (SC) judgement which underlined the importance of intention to commit crime. The accused was booked under section 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code, 1860.