Rajasthan HC grants bail to woman accused in double murder case to look after child
The court also considered the petitioner’s clean criminal record and the advanced stage of trial proceedings
The Rajasthan High Court has granted bail to a 32-year-old woman accused in a double murder case, taking note of her prolonged pre-trial detention, the absence of direct evidence, and her vulnerable circumstances as a mother with no family support, a lawyer familiar with the case said on Thursday.
Justice Farjand Ali, while allowing the second bail application filed by Mariya, who has been lodged in Udaipur district jail since November 2023, noted that her continued incarceration would be “neither legally justified nor equitable.”
The court observed that Mariya is the mother of a five-year-old son and has no immediate family to care for him.
“This innocent child, in the crucial formative years of his development, is deprived of the essential care, guidance, and emotional sustenance that only a mother can provide. The petitioner, in turn, is grievously bereft of the invaluable opportunity to fulfill her natural and fundamental role as a mother—the nurturing, upbringing, and intimate bonding with her child”, the high court said.
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The case stems from an incident on October 27, 2023, when two women—Hussaina Bai and her sister Sara Bai—were found murdered in their Udaipur residence. Police later arrested Mariya in connection with the crime and filed charges under various sections including 302 (murder), 394 (robbery), 436 (mischief by fire), and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence).
While opposing the bail, the prosecution argued that the seriousness of the offence warranted continued detention.
However, the court found that the evidence against Mariya was entirely circumstantial and lacked direct eyewitness testimony.
Citing the legal standards for conviction in such cases, the court held that “the chain of circumstances, as projected by the prosecution, appears to be incomplete and disjointed, leaving open various plausible hypotheses other than the guilt of the petitioner.”
The court also considered the petitioner’s clean criminal record and the advanced stage of trial proceedings, noting that several key prosecution witnesses had already been examined, thus reducing the risk of tampering with evidence.
Referring to the humanitarian aspect, the court noted that Mariya’s in-laws are deceased, and her child is living with her elderly mother, who is herself preoccupied with caring for her husband suffering from cancer. “The petitioner’s family lacks any effective support system to ensure the child’s welfare during the petitioner’s continued period of incarceration, thereby compounding the petitioner’s already vulnerable and distressing situation,” the order stated.
Justice Ali emphasised that the primary purpose of bail is to ensure the accused’s presence at trial—not to function as a tool for pre-trial punishment. Quoting constitutional principles, he said that prolonged detention without conviction “constitutes a manifest infringement upon the fundamental right to personal liberty enshrined in Article 21.”
The court ordered Mariya’s release on a personal bond of ₹50,000 and two sureties of ₹25,000 each, to the satisfaction of the trial court.
