BA1465-26 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY BENCH AT AURANGABAD BAIL APPLICATION NO. 1465 OF 2026 Kisan Davya Bilkule Age 42 years, Occu: agri R/o Rah Bas Pandhari Mata Shivar, Tq. Pimpalner, District Dhule ... Applicant VERSUS The State of Maharashtra … Respondent Ms. Tanvi V. Jadhav, Advocate for the Applicant (Appointed) Mr. V. K. Kotecha, Addl. PP, for the respondent-State CORAM : HITEN S. VENEGAVKAR, J. Dated : 31st August, 2026 O R D E R:- 1. By this application under Section 483 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, the applicant seeks his release on regular bail in connection with Crime No. 203 of 2025 registered with Pimpalner Police Station, District Dhule for the offences punishable under Sections 103, 115(2), 352 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. The applicant is in custody since 27 August 2025. 2. The prosecution case, stated briefly, is that the deceased Surekhabai was the wife of the applicant. The first informant Subhash is their son. According to the prosecution, on the night of 25 August 2025, a quarrel took place between the applicant and the deceased. The applicant was allegedly suspecting the character of the deceased and was abusing and quarreling with her. The material collected during 1 of 7 2026:BHC-AUG:39477 BA1465-26 investigation indicates that the father of the deceased had attempted to intervene in the quarrel. Thereafter, when he returned to the place, he noticed the deceased lying on the ground with injuries and blood around her, while the applicant was present there. The prosecution further relies upon the statement of the first informant according to whom, when he questioned the applicant about the occurrence, the applicant stated that during the quarrel he became angry and assaulted the deceased on her head with an axe, whereupon she fell down and did not thereafter respond. An axe having blood stains was found at the scene and the clothes of the applicant were also seized with blood stains. 3. Learned counsel for the applicant submits that the prosecution case rests entirely upon circumstantial evidence and there is no eyewitness to the actual assault. Considerable emphasis is placed upon what is described as inconsistency regarding the time of occurrence. It is submitted that, while one version refers to the quarrel having taken place during the night, another statement appears to refer to the deceased having been found in the morning. It is further submitted that the medical evidence does not support the prosecution case. The postmortem report records the cause of death as cardio-respiratory failure due to haemothorax consequent upon fracture of the ribs. According to the applicant, the accusation is of an assault with an axe upon the head, whereas the skull was found intact and there is no material showing that the applicant caused the fractures of the fourth 2 of 7 BA1465-26 and fifth ribs. The alleged extra-judicial confession is also sought to be questioned. It is therefore submitted that the circumstances relied upon by the prosecution do not form a complete chain and that the applicant deserves to be released on bail. 4. Learned APP opposes the application. It is submitted that the material cannot be examined in isolation. The deceased and the applicant were husband and wife and were together immediately preceding the occurrence. There is material regarding the quarrel between them. The father of the deceased found her lying injured shortly thereafter and noticed the applicant present at the place. The first informant speaks of an admission made by the applicant regarding the assault. The prosecution also relies upon the blood-stained axe found at the scene and the blood stains on the clothes of the applicant. It is submitted that the medical evidence does not render the prosecution case improbable; on the contrary, the postmortem demonstrates serious ante-mortem injuries to the chest, fractures of the ribs, haemorrhage and haemothorax which resulted in death. At the stage of bail, the discrepancies sought to be highlighted by the defence are matters for appreciation during trial. 5. I have considered the rival submissions and perused the material placed before the Court. The accusation is undoubtedly serious. It is equally true that the case is substantially founded upon circumstances and there is no eyewitness claiming to have actually seen the fatal assault. That by itself, however, cannot justify release on bail. 3 of 7 BA1465-26 At this stage the Court is required to ascertain whether the material, viewed cumulatively and without undertaking a meticulous evaluation of its ultimate evidentiary worth, discloses a substantial prima facie case. 6. The circumstances appearing from the prosecution material cannot presently be regarded as insignificant. There is material indicating a quarrel between the applicant and his wife shortly before she was found lying seriously injured. The statement of the father of the deceased places the applicant at the scene when the deceased was found lying on the ground with a bleeding injury. More importantly, the first informant attributes to the applicant a statement that, on account of anger generated during the quarrel, he had assaulted the deceased with an axe and that she thereafter fell down and did not get up. Whether such extra-judicial admission ultimately inspires confidence and what evidentiary weight is to be attached to it are matters which will necessarily be tested at the trial. It cannot, however, be completely discarded while examining whether a prima facie case exists. 7. There are additional circumstances. The prosecution relies upon the axe having blood stains and upon the clothes of the applicant also having blood stains. It appears that the axe was found at the scene and not discovered pursuant to a memorandum made by the applicant. The circumstance must therefore be appreciated for what it is and not elevated into a discovery under the law of evidence. Nevertheless, its presence at the scene, coupled with the other material referred to 4 of 7 BA1465-26 above, is a circumstance forming part of the prosecution case. 8. Much emphasis was placed upon the postmortem report. The submission is that the death is attributed to cardio-respiratory failure due to haemothorax consequent upon fractured ribs, whereas the prosecution speaks principally of an axe assault on the head. At this stage, I am unable to accept the contention that the medical evidence ex facie dislodges the prosecution case. The postmortem notes lacerated wounds in the right supra-orbital region, contusions on the chest and shoulder, subcutaneous haemorrhage corresponding to the external chest injuries, fractures of the fourth and fifth ribs with blood clots and haemorrhage, injury to the pleura, blood in the pleural cavity and contusion of the left lung. The final cause of death therefore has to be read together with the entirety of the injuries and not merely by isolating the injuries to the head. Whether every injury is attributable to a particular assault, the precise manner in which the rib fractures were caused, and whether the ocular or circumstantial version is completely compatible with the medical opinion are issues requiring evidence of the medical expert and cannot appropriately be concluded in a bail proceeding. 9. The discrepancies regarding whether the quarrel commenced during the night and the precise point of time at which the deceased was subsequently noticed lying injured have also been pressed into service. The statements will undoubtedly have to withstand cross- examination. At present, however, those variations do not, in my view, 5 of 7 BA1465-26 destroy the core of the prosecution case to such an extent that the remaining incriminating circumstances can be ignored. A bail proceeding cannot be converted into a trial for determining which of the versions will eventually survive cross-examination. 10. There is one further aspect. Where the prosecution first establishes circumstances showing that the accused and deceased were together in a domestic setting immediately preceding an unnatural death and places additional incriminating circumstances connecting the accused with the occurrence, facts relating to what transpired within that setting may assume significance under Section 109 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023. This principle does not relieve the prosecution of its primary burden and the Court is not drawing an inference of guilt merely from silence of the applicant. However, after the foundational circumstances presently appearing from the record are taken into account, absence at this stage of any circumstance explaining the occurrence cannot be treated as a ground for discarding the prosecution case while considering bail. 11. The defence has invited the Court to conclude that the chain of circumstances is incomplete. Such a conclusion at this stage would require the Court to assess the reliability of the extra-judicial admission, reconcile individual statements, determine the precise mechanism producing the thoracic injuries and evaluate the forensic material as though the evidence had already been recorded. That exercise would travel beyond the permissible scope of the present 6 of 7 BA1465-26 proceeding. The material presently available, when considered cumulatively, furnishes a substantial prima facie nexus between the applicant and the death of the deceased. 12. The applicant has undergone approximately one year of custody. The period is relevant, but having regard to the gravity of the accusation, the nature of the prima facie material and the stage of the proceedings, it is not yet of such duration as would outweigh the other considerations governing bail. Nothing presently indicates an inordinate or constitutionally impermissible delay in the trial. 13. In the circumstances, I am not persuaded to exercise the discretion in favour of the applicant. The Bail Application is accordingly rejected. 14. The observations made above are confined strictly to consideration of the present bail application. The learned trial Judge shall decide the case solely upon the evidence recorded at the trial and shall not be influenced by any prima facie observation contained in this order. ( HITEN S. VENEGAVKAR, J.) JPChavan 7 of 7