Kulwinder Kaur and Others vs State of Punjab

Mehinder Singh Sullar, J.—Petitioners Kulwinder Kaur wife of Sarabjit Singh, Mandeep Kaur wife of Baldev Singh and Preeti daughter of Darshan, have applied for grant of anticipatory bail in a case registered against them alongwith their other main co-accused, namely, Kuldeep Singh and Nek Singh, by virtue of FIR No. 194 dated 3.9.2010, on accusation of having committed the offences punishable under Sections 342, 376, 506 and 120B IPC IPC by the police of Police Station Sadar Jagraon, District Ludhiana, invoking the provisions of Section 438 Code of Criminal Procedure.

Succinctly, the prosecution claimed that Kuldeep Singh, fiance of prosecutrix, called complainant (her father) Didar Singh, on phone and informed that she was not willing to marry him. The complainant enquired from his daughter (prosecutrix), who narrated that three months back, Petitioner Kulwinder Kaur called her at village Bhimpura Kalan, where Kuldeep Singh and Nek Singh were also present. Petitioner No. 3 Preeti sent her in the residential room of Petitioner Kulwinder Kaur, wherein, main accused Nek Singh entered the room and raped her. Thereafter, accused Kuldeep Singh opened the door, entered the room and raped her. On the basis of aforesaid allegations and in the wake of statement of the complainant, the present case was registered against the accused, in the manner indicated here-in-above.

Notice of the petition was issued to the State.

After hearing the learned Counsel for the parties, going through the record with their valuable assistance and after bestowal of thoughts over the entire matter, to my mind, the present petition deserves to be accepted in this context.

At the very outset, the Petitioners were directed to join the investigation. The learned State counsel, on instructions from ASI Gurdev Singh, has submitted that the Petitioners have already joined the investigation and they are no longer required for further interrogation at this stage. Nothing is to be recovered from them.

What is not disputed here is that the prosecutrix was having love affairs with accused Kuldeep Singh. All the allegations of rape are assigned to main accused Kuldeep Singh, fiance of the prosecutrix and Nek Singh. According to the prosecution, the Petitioners helped the commission of the crime. Petitioners are ladies and to me, as nothing is to be recovered from them, therefore, no useful purpose would be served in sending them to police custody.

So, taking into consideration the totality of the facts and circumstances, emanating from the record, as described here-in-above and without commenting further anything on merits, lest it may prejudice the case of either side during the course of the trial of the case, to me, the present Petitioners are entitled to anticipatory bail in the obtaining circumstances of the present case.

Consequently, it is directed that in the event of their arrest, the Petitioners shall be released on anticipatory bail on their furnishing bail and surety bonds in the sum of Rs. 10,000/-each to the satisfaction of Arresting Officer, subject to the conditions that (i) they shall make themselves available for interrogation by the Investigating Agency as and when required; (ii) they shall not directly or indirectly make any inducement, threat or promise to any person acquainted with the facts of the case so as to dissuade him from disclosing such facts to the Court or to any police officer and (iii) they will not leave India without prior permission of the trial Court.

Needless to mention that if the Petitioners do not cooperate or join the investigation, the prosecution would be at liberty to move an application for cancellation.