Supreme Court refuses to stay bail to Sonam Raghuvanshi in Raja Raghuvanshi murder case | Bhopal News

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to stay bail granted to Sonam Raghuvanshi in the Raja Raghuvanshi murder case.

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday refused to stay bail granted to Sonam Raghuvanshi in the Raja Raghuvanshi murder case.A bench of Justices MM Sundresh and Sheel Nagu said it had reservations about the high court’s order granting bail but declined to stay it, observing that Sonam Raghuvanshi had already been released from jail and was currently in Shillong in accordance with the bail conditions imposed by the trial court.Appearing for the Meghalaya government, Solicitor general Tushar Mehta argued that the allegations against Raghuvanshi were grave and that she should not have been granted bail on what he described as technical grounds.Mehta urged the Supreme Court to stay the high court’s order, but the bench declined the request and listed the matter for further hearing.The bench verbally observed that this was not a case where the grounds of arrest had not been supplied to the accused in their entirety.Nevertheless, it noted that once an accused has been released on bail, the court should exercise caution before reversing such an order.“No matter how heinous the crime is, bail is the rule and jail is the exception,” the bench observed, while adding, “We do have reservations about how the high court has been dealing with the case.”The apex court has asked Sonam’s lawyer to file a counter affidavit to the Meghalaya government’s plea opposing her bail.The matter will be heard next Thursday.‘Minor typographical error’The Meghalaya government had moved the Supreme Court seeking cancellation of the bail granted to Sonam, who is accused of orchestrating the murder of her husband Raja Raghuvanshi at Sohra in May last year.Also read: Typo led to Sonam bail, Meghalaya saysSolicitor general Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Meghalaya government, filed the special leave petition (SLP) on Wednesday evening before a vacation bench of Justices MM Sundresh and Sheel Nagu and sought an urgent hearing, arguing that Sonam could abscond.Mehta contended that the trial court granted bail on the ground that the arresting authorities had allegedly failed to fully communicate the reasons for Sonam’s arrest. He argued that the issue was merely a “minor typographical error” in citing the relevant legal provision and was insufficient to justify bail.On Monday, the Meghalaya high court had dismissed the state government’s plea seeking cancellation of Sonam’s bail.The trial court had granted conditional bail to Sonam on April 27, citing procedural lapses after the police erroneously referred to Section 403(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) instead of Section 103(1), which deals with punishment for murder.The court held that the error violated her rights under Article 22 of the Constitution.The Meghalaya government has maintained that Sonam was informed of the grounds for her arrest and said it had submitted supporting documents before the High Court on May 4 while seeking revocation of her bail.According to the prosecution, Raja Raghuvanshi was murdered during his honeymoon after assailants from Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh were allegedly hired at Sonam’s behest.