FIR filed against retd MP judge over ‘dowry death’, gets anticipatory bail

Bhopal: Police registered an FIR against a retired district judge and her advocate son in connection with the alleged dowry death of his 31-year-old wife, who was found dead at their Katara Hills residence in the city on May 12 night.

However, in a late evening decision, a Bhopal court granted bail to the retired judge during a hearing on her anticipatory bail plea.

“The court granted anticipatory bail to the former judge, while the hearing on her son’s plea will take place on Monday,” the counsel for the retired judge told TOI.

The case drew attention after the victim’s family alleged dowry harassment, physical assault and attempts to destroy evidence, while her brother, an Indian Army major, sought intervention from senior authorities over an alleged delay in registration of the FIR.

Originally from Noida, the 31-year-old got married about five months ago.

Her family claimed they noticed injury marks on her hands and ears after her death. The family staged protests outside Katara Hills police station and later at the women’s police station, alleging inaction and demanding registration of a criminal case. Army sources said her brother sought assistance in the filing of the FIR in connection with her death.

Following intervention at senior levels, the FIR was registered around 3.30 am on Friday. “A case has been registered against the retired judge and her son under BNS sections 80, 85, 3(5) of BNS and also under sections 3 and 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act and efforts are on to arrest them,” Additional commissioner of police Rajnish Kashyap told TOI earlier in the day. Section 80 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita pertains to dowry death, carrying a punishment ranging from a minimum of seven years’ imprisonment to life term.

Section 85 relates to cruelty by husband or relatives of the husband, attracting a sentence ranging from imprisonment of up to three years along with a fine. BNS Section 3(5) deals with acts committed with common intention, while Sections 3 and 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act pertain to giving, taking and demanding dowry.

Both the former judge and her son filed for anticipatory bail, sources said.

Meanwhile, a copy of the autopsy report, conducted at AIIMS Bhopal and accessed by TOI, states, “Death is due to antemortem hanging by ligature.”

“Multiple antemortem injuries (simple in nature, possible by blunt force) over other parts of the body have been noted,” the report states further. The forensic report states that blood and viscera samples, preserved for toxicological analysis, “rule out concomitant intoxication”. Nail clippings have also been preserved for DNA analysis. The report additionally records that the ligature material was “neither present in situ nor submitted by IO for examination by us.”

Doctors also preserved the uterus for histopathological examination after noting an alleged history of medical termination of pregnancy about a week earlier.

Sources added that an Army team comprising one officer and 10 personnel has been detailed for assistance to the family, while coordination has also been established with Bhopal Police.

The case drew attention after the 33-year-old victim’s family alleged dowry harassment, physical assault and attempts by the accused to destroy evidence