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Twisha case: HC reserves order on Giribala bail plea
Madhya Pradesh high court has reserved its verdict on the bail plea of former district and sessions judge Giribala Singh in the suicide case of model Twisha Sharma, after a marathon hearing. A single bench of Justice Ajay Kumar Nirankari heard the arguments on Monday.
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Madhya Pradesh high court has reserved its verdict on the bail plea of former district and sessions judge Giribala Singh in the suicide case of model Twisha Sharma, after a marathon hearing. A single bench of Justice Ajay Kumar Nirankari heard the arguments on Monday.
Twisha Sharma, daughter-in-law of Giribala Singh, had allegedly died by suicide on May 12. Police registered a case against Giribala and her son Samarth under charges of dowry death and the Dowry Prohibition Act. But, CBI changed the dowry death charge to abetment of suicide in the charge sheet while evidence are still being collected to probe dowry demand.
Singh’s advocate Surendra Singh argued that the CBI had not filed a charge sheet under the Dowry Prohibition Act for want of evidence. “The charges were made of abetment of suicide. The petitioner has been in judicial custody for five months. No evidence has come up against her for demanding dowry,” said the advocate seeking bail citing her age and medical condition. Singh’s counsel also argued that she was upset with abortion of the fetus but never troubled for her daughter-in-law and pressured her for anything.
The CBI and the state government opposed the bail plea.
“She could influence evidence and witnesses if released. Reports on technical evidence, including a laptop and CCTV footage seized during the CBI probe, are still awaited and may attract additional charges,” said S Jain, additional solicitor general.
The counsel for state government advocate general Prashant Singh said, “Giribala Singh did not cooperate with the investigation, failed to appear despite notices to record her statement and attempted to destroy evidence after granting bail initially by session court.”
The former judge was granted anticipatory bail by the Bhopal district and sessions court on May 15. The High Court was subsequently moved challenging the anticipatory bail and seeking a second post-mortem of the deceased. The court ordered a fresh post-mortem by a team from AIIMS, Delhi, and on May 27 cancelled the anticipatory bail. The probe was later handed over to the CBI.
Meanwhile, the deceased’s father, Navnidhi Sharma, had filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking transfer of the case outside Madhya Pradesh, naming the CBI, Giribala Singh and her son Samarth Singh as respondents. While hearing the plea, the Supreme Court had directed MP high court that Giribala Singh’s bail plea be heard within two weeks.
