1 CGHC010311012026 2026:CGHC:38232 NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR CRA No. 2046 of 2026 1 - Sarojni Mahant D/o Late Agar Das Mahant Aged About 19 Years R/o Police Statin Hardibazar, District Korba Chhattisgarh, Presently Residence Kusmunda, District Korba Chhattisgarh. 2 - Ragini Mahant D/o Late Agar Das Mahant Aged About 26 Years R/o Dholpur, Police Station Hardibazar District Korba Chhattisgarh. Presently Resident At Gevra Basti, Police Station Kusmunda, District Korba C.G. 3 - Lakshmin Bai W/o Late Agar Das Mahant Aged About 50 Years R/o Dholpur, Police Station Hardibazar District Korba, Chhattisgrh. Presently Residing At Gevra Basti, Police Station Kusmunda, District Korba C.G. ... Appellant(s) versus 1 - State Of Chhattisgarh Through Police Station Ajak Korba District Korba C.G. ... Respondent(s) For Appellants : Mr. Anshul Tiwari, Advocate. For Respondent/State : Mr. Kalpesh Ruparel, P.L. Hon'ble Shri Justice Sanjay Kumar Jaiswal Order On Board 2 25/08/2026 1. This appeal is filed under Section 14-A(2) of the SC & ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 is filed against the the order dated 21.07.2026 passe by the learned Special Judge (Atrocities), Korba, District Korba for grant of regular bail to the appellants as they are arrested in connection with Crime No. 144/2025 registered at police station AJAK Korba, District Korba (C.G.) for commission of offence punishable under Sections 80(2) read with section 3(5), 103 read with section 3(5) of BNS and Section 3(2) (v) of the of SC & ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. 2. This is first bail application of appellant Sarojini Mahant and second bail application of appellants Ragini Mahant and Lakshmin Bai. 3. Vide order dated 02.02.2026, first bail application of appellant Ragini Mahant and Laxmin Bai was dismissed on merit and vide order dated 01.07.2026, appellant Ramayan Singh Markam and Rajkumari Markam have been granted bail by this Court. 4. Case of the prosecution is that on 17.01.2025, in connection with the death of deceased - Kajal Bhardwaj, wife of accused Kamlesh Mahant, age 21 years, resident of Somwari Bazar Dipka, Police Station Dipka, District Korba, the informant/resident of District Hospital Korba, came and presented the hospital memo, in which it is written that the deceased died on the date of the incident, which was taken up in Panchnama proceedings by establishing Merg on the report of the informant. After the Merg Panchnama, as the place of incident was Police Station Dipka, the actual Merg was registered in Police Station Dipka, and on investigation, it was found that the deceased consumed poison due to demand of dowry and being of scheduled caste and being fed up with the harassment by her in-laws, Crime No. 144/2025 under Section 80 (2) BNS was registered in Police Station Dipka. The investigation 3 revealed that the the appellants and other accused persons had been harassing the newly married woman, deceased/Kajal Bhardwaj, on the pretext that she had not brought dowry because she belonged to a scheduled caste. The victim/Kajal Bhardwaj, consumed poison and died during treatment in District Hospital Korba. During investigating, appellant No.3/Laxmin Bai (mother- in-law of the deceased), appellant No.2/Ragni Mahant and appellant No.1/Sarojni Mahant (sister-in-law of the deceased), have been taken into custody by Police Station AJAK, Korba on 25.11.2025 & 18.02.2026 and the aforesaid offences have been registered against them. 5. Learned Counsel appearing for the Appellants submits that the appellants are innocent and have been falsely implicated in the case. He further submits that the appellant No.1-Sarojni Mahant is in custody since 18.02.2026 and appellant Nos. 2 & 3 are in custody since 25.11.2025, and out of 20 witnesses, 04 witnesses have been examined so far. He also submits that two accused persons namely Ramayan Singh Markam and Rajkumari Markam have already been granted bail by this Court and the case of the present appellants is similar to that of the bail out accused. He also submits that there is no likelihood of their case being decided in near future. Therefore, considering the detention period of the appellants, it is prayed that the appeal may be allowed and the appellants may be released on bail. 6. On the other hand, learned Counsel appearing for the State opposes the bail application. 7. The father of deceased/victim appeared through video conferencing from the concerned DLSA and recorded objection to grant of bail to the appellants. 8. I have heard learned Counsel appearing for the parties and perused the documents available on record. 4 9. Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, and further considering the evidence of Narayan Prasad (PW-1), nature of allegation against the appellants, detention period, the case of the present appellants being similar to that of the bail out accused persons namely Ramayan Singh Markam and Rajkumari Markam and that the trial is likely to take some time to conclude the trial, without further commenting on the merits of the case, this Court is of the opinion that it would be appropriate to release the appellants on bail. 10. Accordingly, the appeal is allowed and the impugned order dated 21.07.2026 passed by the learned Trial Court is set-aside. 11. It is directed that the appellants shall be released on bail on their executing a personal bond for a sum of Rs. 25,000/- each with one surety for the like sum to the satisfaction of the Trial Court for their appearance before the said Court as and when directed. Sd/- (Sanjay Kumar Jaiswal) Judge pekde Digitally signed by VIJAY BHARATRAO PEKDE Date: 2026.08.26 13:09:42 +0530