Supreme Court sets aside bail granted to Sonam Raghuvanshi in honeymoon murder case

The Supreme Court on Thursday set aside a trial court order granting bail to Sonam Raghuvanshi, the prime accused in the alleged murder of her husband Raja Raghuvanshi during their honeymoon in Meghalaya.

A Bench of Justices MM Sundresh and PB Varale allowed the State government's challenge to the Meghalaya High Court's order upholding her release.

The Court noted that bail was granted to the accused over non-compliance with the mandate to serve grounds of arrest.

However, the Court said that she was not entitled to bail.

"On facts we find that respondent is not entitled to bail. It is not as if the respondent was not served with the grounds of arrest. There is difference between non service and giving adequate reasons thereunder. While the first category might vitiate the arrest, in the second one has to see the prejudice," the Bench said.

The Court added that while bail is the rule and jail is the exception, the accused had been denied bail three times before and those orders had attained finality. It also said that since the trial has already begun in the case, her "continued enlargement" on bail at this stage might hinder the ongoing proceedings.

Accordingly, the Court set aside the bail order and directed Sonam Raghuvanshi to surrender within three weeks. It added that she can move for bail in case the trial is not concluded within six months.

In the order, the Court also said that law does not restrain the police from re-arresting a person.

"A non-compliance of the service of grounds of arrest will not act as a fetter to re-arrest for the purpose of investigation," the Bench said.

Meanwhile, the Court said such incidents are bound to happen in a changing society.

"The present generation may be more knowledgeable than us but in terms of dealing with pressure, they are more vulnerable," it said.

When Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said that youth today have more information but less knowledge, Justice Varale said,

"Whatever is being shared on WhatsApp is being treated as knowledge."

Sonam Raghuvanshi is accused of conspiring to murder her husband, Raja Raghuvanshi, during their honeymoon in East Khasi Hills in May 2025. She was arrested in June 2025 and later charge-sheeted for offences including murder. The trial is currently underway.

In April 2026, the District and Sessions Court at East Khasi Hills granted Sonam bail after holding that the investigating agency had failed to effectively communicate the grounds of her arrest, as required by law.

The Meghalaya government then challenged that order before the High Court. On June 29, the Meghalaya High Court upheld the grant of bail, observing that the "grounds of arrest" had been prepared mechanically and contained several irrelevant entries.

The State then approached the Supreme Court seeking cancellation of Sonam's bail. The Court in the last hearing suggested that Sonam should surrender in the interim while the trial court records the evidence of key prosecution witnesses. It indicated that it could then reconsider her bail on merits.

Today, Advocate Ardhendumauli Prasad, representing Raghuvanshi submitted that there are 94 witnesses in the trial and only 4 have been examined so far.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the State, said that Sonam had surrendered before the police and that none of the judgements on supply of grounds of arrest deal with situation a where an accused surrenders.

However, Raghuvanshi's counsel said that the argument was being raised for the first time by the State. Mehta rebutted the submission, stating,

"We have written that she has surrendered in the charge sheet. It has never been disputed since day one."

However, Raghuvanshi's counsel, while referring to the arrest memo, said that she was arrested and had not surrendered.

"On item no. 10 arrest details are placed. The place of arrest is one stop shop, Gazipur. This is not the police station, it’s a shopping mall. Taken into custody at one stop centre Gazipur," Prasad said.

The counsel added that Raghuvanshi is a resident of Indore and was arrested from Gazipur in Uttar Pradesh in a case from Meghalaya.

"Is it their case that I was waiting in Indore for Meghalaya police to reach Gazipur so I can go there and surrender?" he asked.

He also said that the purported grounds of arrest were supplied on a document with no details.

"None of the check boxes were ticked to indicate the said charges under the box. It’s not only for the reason...instead of 103, 403 was written. It is a case where the documents supplied were incorrect and I have not been intimated the grounds of arrest."

However, the Court asked whether this ground could have been raised after the accused had been denied bail three times.

"The only point is can you raise this plea after the bail application was rejected on merits? Can the issue be raised belatedly after 3 applications?"

The Court was not convinced with the counsel's arguments and proceeded to set aside the bail order.

"We will make it clear that if trial is not moving sufficiently, we will give you liberty to file a fresh application. She is a lady. We don’t know what are the circumstances that led to the arrest...But in the facts of the case we can’t do it," it said.

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