Twisha Sharma case: HC adjourns hearing on pleas against accused mom-in-law's pre-arrest bail to May 27

The Madhya Pradesh High Court on Monday adjourned to May 27 the hearing on pleas challenging the anticipatory bail granted to ex-judge Giribala Singh, booked for dowry harassment in the death case of her daughter-in-law Twisha Sharma, after the defence sought time to file replies.

The matter came up before the single bench of Justice Devnarayan Mishra.

During the proceedings, Singh's counsel, George Carlo, submitted that his client had not yet received a copy of the petition filed by Twisha's father, Navnidhi Sharma, and sought additional time to file a formal reply.

Carlo further argued that the two pleas, filed separately by Navnidhi Sharma and the Madhya Pradesh government seeking cancellation of anticipatory bail, were based on different grounds and therefore required separate replies.

Senior advocate Meenakshi Arora also appeared for Giribala Singh online.

The single-bench directed that a copy of the petition filed by the complainant be supplied to Singh and fixed the hearing for May 27.

When contacted, Anurag Shrivastava, one of the advocates for the Twisha Sharma family who joined the proceeding online, told PTI that they won't disclose the grounds on which they have challenged the bail. It will be known at an appropriate time, he added.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who appeared online for the state government, told the HC that the accused Singh, current chairperson of the Bhopal Consumer Court, moved for anticipatory bail on May 14, a day after Twisha's postmortem examination was conducted, and obtained relief from the trial court the following day.

While the hearing was getting fixed for May 29, Mehta said if Singh could get bail overnight, the hearing timeline should be shortened to two days.

MP Advocate General Prashant Singh appeared in person in the court.

He said the state has challenged Singh's bail amid concerns that she might tamper with evidence and influence the investigation.

Senior counsel Siddharth Luthra appeared online for Navnidhi Sharma.

The high court on Friday issued notices to Singh on petitions filed by the state government and Twisha's father, Navnidhi Sharma.

Police have registered an FIR against Giribala Singh and her son Samarth Singh, a lawyer, under Sections 80(2), 85 and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita along with relevant provisions of the Dowry Prohibition Act.

Twisha (33), a former model-actor from Noida, was found hanging at her marital residence in Bhopal's Katara Hills area on the night of May 12.

Her family has accused her husband and mother-in-law of dowry harassment and abetment to suicide.

On Sunday, the last rites of Twisha Sharma were conducted 12 days after her death, following the second postmortem of her body conducted by a team of AIIMS Delhi on a high court order.

Chief of Forensic Medicine at AIIMS, Delhi, Dr Sudhir Gupta, had said the compilation of the report will take some time as certain laboratory tests, including histopathology and viscera examination, are required.

Twisha's family had raised several concerns over the circumstances surrounding her death. They alleged blunt force injuries on Twisha's left arm and forearm, a lack of detailed dissection to determine the depth and age of injuries, and the absence of radiological examination of the neck and cervical structures.

The family also sought a correlation between the alleged ligature material and injuries recorded on the neck and requested a toxicological evaluation of preserved viscera samples.

The Supreme Court, which has taken cognisance of the Twisha death case, on Monday observed that it was ''pained'' by the narrative that the judiciary was shielding the accused, and said it would ensure a fair, independent, and impartial CBI probe.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)