Editor Mr.Mayank Rawat ( Chief Editor Mr. Rohit Mishra )
New Delhi: A Delhi court on Tuesday dismissed the regular bail applications of the parents of Pankaj Lamba, who is accused of murdering his wife, Harshita Brella, in London. On March 19, Darshan Singh and Sunil Devi, Lamba’s father and mother, were sent to police custody for a day. Later, they were sent to judicial custody.
The court of additional sessions judge Gurmohina Kaur also dismissed the anticipatory bail pleas of Lamba’s sister Uma, uncle Satinder, and aunt Lalita. The judge observed that the co-accused in the case, Harshita’s husband Pankaj Lamba, is still absconding, and the possibility of these applicants/accused persons absconding cannot be ruled out in the facts and circumstances of the present case, leading to the dismissal of their bail applications.
Advocate Jai Dev Solanki, appearing for Satbir Singh, Harshita’s father, claimed that Harshita was harassed and tortured immediately the day after her marriage by the accused persons and was also threatened with dire consequences. The counsel, opposing all the five bail pleas, also told the court that the accused persons were regularly harassing and torturing Harshita and her family to fulfil the dowry demand. Advocate Solanki further stated that, as per the postmortem report, Harshita died due to manual strangulation, which is homicidal in nature.
The judge stated that the record reflected specific allegations made against the accused persons by Harshita’s father regarding dowry demands, harassment, and torturing her. The court also noted the submissions of the prosecution that even after Harshita went to the United Kingdom along with Pankaj, the family members, including all the accused persons, continued to intimidate and threaten her family in India and kept pressurising them to meet their further demands. The court said they also harassed Harshita, who was staying in the UK at that time.
The judge took note of the submissions of the investigating officer of the case, who told the court that the matter was at the stage of initial investigation and Harshita’s father had made specific allegations regarding the demand for dowry and harassment by these accused persons.
Denying the anticipatory bail to Pankaj Lamba’s uncle, aunt, and sister, the court observed, “The power to grant anticipatory bail is an exceptional power and should be exercised only in exceptional cases and not as a matter of course.”
Delhi Police registered a case under sections 498A (husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty) and 406 (criminal breach of trust) at the Palam Village police station on Dec 3 last year. Meanwhile, it also released a lookout notice for Lamba to prevent him from leaving India.
Mayank Rawat
