The Delhi High Court has denied bail to a woman accused of strangulating to death her husband, saying that the evidence in the case "clearly connects" her to the offence.
Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal also took into account the severity of the punishment prescribed -- maximum of death sentence -- for the offence of murder under the IPC.
The court said that though the evidence was circumstantial, there are several features of the case which "prima facie appear to go against the petitioner (wife)".
"The evidence led by the prosecution clearly connects the petitioner with the offence. Therefore in light of the above and after careful scrutiny of other aforesaid facts and circumstances of the present case and other factors including severity of the punishment prescribed in law, I find no sufficient ground to grant bail to the petitioner.
"Hence, the present bail application filed by the petitioner is dismissed," the judge said.
The woman, who is in judicial custody since April 28, 2016, had contended in her plea for regular bail that the case against her was lodged by her father-in-law with the "oblique motive" to oust her and her daughter from the share of her deceased husband's properties.
She had also claimed that while her husband was over six feet tall and weighed more than 100 kg, she was skinny and therefore, it was "highly improbable" that she could have overpowered him.
Her husband's death on the intervening night of April 16 -17, 2016, was suicidal as he was under tremendous stress and tension due to constant threats by his father of disowning him, the woman had claimed.
She had further claimed that no specific allegations have been levelled against her except vague accusations by her father-in-law that there were disputes between her and her husband and the FIR was lodged "after due deliberations and manipulation by the police".
The woman had also accused her father-in-law and the police of conniving with each other.
She contended that the observations and findings in the post mortem report were inconsistent with the MLC report with regard to the injuries and ligature marks found on the body.
The police had contended that it was not a suicide, but murder as the victim was strangled by a nylon rope and on the night of the incident, only the couple and their minor daughter was at home.
After hearing both sides, the court said, "In the present case, as only the petitioner was present at the place of incident along with her minor daughter, the onus would lie upon her to disprove the allegations levelled against her in the complaint.
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