HC grants bail to woman with toddler as 44 test positive in Nagpur central jail

The Nagpur bench of the Bombay high court on Friday granted bail to a double murder accused on the ground that keeping her 19-month-old toddler at Nagpur central

The Nagpur bench of the Bombay high court on Friday granted bail to a double murder accused on the ground that keeping her 19-month-old toddler at Nagpur central prison would be unsafe, especially when 44 inmates and staff members of the jail have tested positive for Covid-19.

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The bench of justice AS Chandurkar and justice Anil Kilor found that the accused, Gudiya Sahu, was not entitled to be released on temporary bail given the recommendations of the high powers committee. But, the possibility of Sahu and her child getting infected could not be ruled out, as 44 prison inmates and staff at Nagpur central prison had tested positive for the virus.

“We cannot overlook the welfare of the child during the pandemic. The child will be at high-risk if he is not shifted to a safe place,” the bench said while granting his mother temporary bail on a personal bond of ₹20,000.

Sahu, her husband and a brother-in-law, were accused of brutally killing an elderly tribal woman and her one-year-old granddaughter when she had come to their residence seeking a loan. The incident occurred in the evening of February 17, 2018, and the bodies were later found thrown under a bridge at Vihirgaon in Yavatmal district.