‘Needs soothing touch of a mother’: Citing child’s rights, Delhi High Court grants bail to woman accused in cheating case

‘Child needs comfort of mother’

• There are allegations of cheating and conspiracy against the accused, with the complainant suspecting that she, along with her husband, was involved in the alleged fraud.
• However, it cannot be ignored that the infant of the accused is at an age that requires physical touch and the comfort of the mother to recuperate.
• It is the right of that child to health, which cannot be ignored.
• Since there are limited allegations against the accused, the daughter cannot be denied the physical company of her mother, at least during the period of illness.
• The interim bail application of the accused is allowed on the condition of furnishing a personal bond of Rs 10,000 with one surety in the like amount to the satisfaction of the trial court.
• The accused is directed to be released on interim bail for 90 days so that she may take care of her child.

‘Other relatives to take care’

• Assistant Public Prosecutor Amit Ahlawat opposed the interim bail plea on the ground that there are other relatives of the accused who can take care of the child, as per a report filed before the trial court.
• The petitioner’s counsel, however, placed the medical record on file, emphasising the illness of the two-year-old daughter of the accused.

‘Chance to be by mother’s side during surgery’

Previously, in another unrelated case, the Delhi High Court on February 3 granted interim bail to a man for six weeks despite his involvement in 27 other cases, observing that a son should not be denied the “opportunity” to be by his mother’s side during her surgery, even if there are other relatives to take care of her.

The high court was hearing the plea of the man who was charged under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), 1999 and was in jail for around five years.

“Merely because mother has other relatives to take care of does not mean that the son be denied an opportunity to be by her side,” the court observed while suspecting the “truthfulness” of the 27 cases filed against the man.

The court even highlighted that it was not a case of some distant relative on whose marriage or illness the petitioner sought interim liberty, but a case where his mother had to undergo surgery.

The high court granted an interim bail application to the accused, subject to his furnishing a personal bond for Rs 50,000 with one surety.

‘Mother on deathbed’

In another case, the Delhi High Court on January 30 directed the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the prosecuting agency, to verify the grounds on which interim bail was granted after it challenged a trial court’s order granting interim relief to Manoj Gaur, the former Chairman & Managing Director of Jaypee Infratech Ltd.

Gaur is accused in a money laundering case worth over Rs 13,000 crore. The trial court had granted him interim bail on the grounds of his mother being on the “deathbed”.

Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani directed the ED to “verify the current medical condition” of Gaur’s mother and file a status report. According to the ED, the bail was granted solely based on two photographs of Gaur’s mother where she was seen “receiving feed through a nasal tube”.

‘Fragile medical health’

The Karnataka High Court has earlier granted bail to Congress MLA Satish Krishna Sail in a money laundering case, which involved the alleged illegal export of iron ore from the Belekeri port in Uttara Kannada district.

Justice S Sunil Dutt Yadav allowed the petition filed by the accused, granted him bail on medical grounds on February 5, and said, “Incarceration and treatment during incarceration may not be practical and would jeopardise the fragile medical health of the petitioner.”

The court granted him conditional medical bail on executing a personal bond of Rs 5 lakh, with one surety of a like sum.