Karnataka High Court denies bail to Police SI accused of caste abuse, causing dowry death of wife

The Karnataka High Court recently denied bail to a Police Sub-Inspector (PSI) accused of caste abuse and of causing the dowry death of his wife. [Ramesh SV v State of Karnataka].Justice Mohammad Nawaz determined that based on the prosecution evidence, there was a prima facie case against the accused and that he was likely to tamper with evidence if released on bail.."From the material collected by the prosecution, there is a prima facie case made out against the appellant for the offences charge sheeted against him. As rightly contended by the learned counsel for respondent, in the event of grant of bail to the appellant, there is every chance of tampering the prosecution evidence," the Court observed in its order dated December 19..The Court was hearing an appeal by the accused police officer challenging a sessions court order that denied him bail.The complaint against the accused had been filed by his deceased wife's father, who alleged that the accused and his family had subjected his late daughter to both verbal and physical assault.According to the complaint, one day, when the daughter did not answer her phone, the complainant (father) received a call from her neighbor informing him that she had been admitted to the hospital. Upon reaching the hospital, the complainant discovered that his daughter had passed away.This tragic incident prompted the filing of a complaint, alleging charges of cruelty under Section 498-A and dowry death under Section 304B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Additionally, the complaint included accusations under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and the Dowry Prohibition Act.Consequently, a chargesheet was filed against the PSI, invoking Sections 498A and 304B of the IPC, along with Sections 3 and 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act and Section 3(2)(v) of the Atrocities Act..The accused police officer contended that the allegations were false and that in the death note left by his deceased wife, she had not alleged anything against him. Further, he contended that since he was a PSI, he and his family were self-sufficient and had no reason to demand dowry. He also highlighted that he was aware of his wife's caste years before they got married and hence, if he were to discriminate on the basis of caste, he would not have married her. .On the other hand, the complainant underlined that the death was suspicious as only the accused and the deceased lived in the house. The prosecution also highlighted that as per the post-mortem report, there were external as well as internal injuries on the body. It was further contended that the note was fabricated and that if the accused were to be released on bail, he could tamper with evidence. .The Court noted the external and internal injuries and stated that the correctness of the death note could not be gone into at the current stage. Therefore, stating that there was a prima facie case against the accused and acknowledging the possibility of him tampering with evidence, the Court dismissed the police officer's appeal and denied him bail..The accused was represented by Senior Advocate MS Shyamsundhar.The State of Karnataka was represented by High Court Government Pleader Sowmya R.The complainant was represented by advocate KBK Swamy..[Read Order]