On Friday (23rd February), the Supreme Court granted bail to Bhurekhan of Gujarat in a case against him for forcibly converting a Hindu woman belonging to the SC/ST community to Islam. The Supreme Court granted him bail after the Gujarat High Court had denied it, having noted the prima facie involvement of the accused and presence of sufficient evidence against him. The bail of the accused Bhurekhan was denied twice earlier.
The Supreme Court bench of Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Ujall Bhuyan observed that there are multiple FIRs filed against the accused in this case. The court also underlined that in the third FIR, the complainant woman claiming to be the wife of the accused has complained against Bhurekhan’s family members as well.
The Supreme Court bench said in its order, “The First Information Report (FIR) is registered based on a complaint filed by the first informant who is claiming to be the wife of the appellant. There are three successive FIRs registered against the appellant. In the present FIR, his entire family has been implicated.”
The court added, “Considering the facts of the case, the appellant deserves to be enlarged on bail. For that purpose, the appellant shall be produced before the Trial Court within one week from today. The Trial Court shall enlarge the appellant on bail on appropriate terms and conditions.”
This decision came in response to the impugned order by the Gujarat High Court on 13th September 2023, ruling that the accused shall not be granted bail. This verdict was pronounced by Justice Hasmukh D Suthar. According to the Gujarat High Court, the probe in this case had revealed ‘sufficient evidence’ against Bhurekhan to deny him bail. The High Court also noted that there was prima facie apparent involvement of the accused in the alleged crime and freeing him on bail may result in the accused tampering with the evidence.
The Gujarat High Court said, “It is needless to say that after filing the complaint, during the investigation, sufficient material is collected against the present accused and strengthened circumstance is against the present accused and prima facie, it appears that involvement of accused and role attributed to the present applicant in the offence.”
The High Court further said, “This Court is of the considered opinion that if the present accused is enlarged on bail, which is nothing but the possibility can be ruled out that accused will misuse his liberty and tamper with witnesses of evidence of the prosecution and the appellant is having criminal antecedents and two offence are also registered against him.”
An offence in this case was first registered in 2023 at the Gomtipur police station in Ahmedabad under sections 354, 323, 294(b), 506(2), 143, 147 and 114 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and sections 3(2)(VA) of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. A special court bench of Ahmedabad had also denied bail to the accused Bhurekhan in this case.