Supreme Court cancels bail of man accused of 'honour killing' brother-in-law

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday cancelled the bail of a man from Rajasthan, accused of conspiring to murder his Keralite brother-in-law, who was shot dead in front of his pregnant wife in an alleged case of "honour killing".

A bench headed by Chief Justice N.V. Ramana set aside a Rajasthan High Court order that had granted bail to the accused.

The bench, also comprising Justices A S Bopanna and Hrishikesh Roy, said: "We are of the considered opinion that the order dated December 1, 2020, passed by the High Court of Judicature for Rajasthan, Bench at Jaipur, impugned herein is not sustainable. The same is accordingly set aside and the bail granted to respondent No. 2 is cancelled."

The top court order came on an appeal challenging the high court order filed by the wife, Mamta Nair, of the deceased, Amit Nair, who was shot at point-blank range.

The bench said: "We, therefore, direct the respondent No 2, Mukesh Chaudhary, to surrender before the court of upper District and Sessions Judge, Jaipur City. We make it clear that we have not expressed any opinion on the merits of the case and the trial court shall consider the case being uninfluenced by any of the observations herein."

The High Court, at the time of passing the impugned order, has taken note that 17 witnesses out of 47 have been examined so far.

"It is not in dispute that at this point in time 21 witnesses have been examined and the trial is proceeding. Taking into consideration the nature of the offence, it is appropriate that the trial be concluded at the earliest," the bench noted.

The top court ordered that the trial court should make all efforts to conclude the trial and dispose of the case as expeditiously as possible but in any event not later than one year from the date of receipt of a copy of this order.

Senior advocate Indira Jaising, assisted by advocate-on-record Nupur Kumar, appeared for the petitioner and opposed the bail granted to Chaudhary. "This is a blatant case of honour killing of the husband of a woman who married against her family's wishes," Jaising had submitted.

In 2017, the wife's parents, and two other men allegedly barged into the couple's home and shot Amit, but Mamta was protected by neighbours. The wife was six months pregnant at the time. Mukesh Chaudhary, the brother-in-law, is facing trial for offences under Sections 302 (murder), 452 (house-trespass after preparation for hurt, assault or wrongful restraint) and 120B (conspiracy) of the IPC.