Supreme Court to hear woman's plea challenging mother's bail in 'honour killing' case

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear the plea of a woman seeking cancellation of bail of her mother, who along with her husband and son, has been allegedly accused of hatching conspiracy for the "honour killing" case of her husband in 2017.

Senior lawyer Indira Jaising submitted before a bench headed by Chief Justice N.V. Ramana that it is a fit case for cancellation of bail. The top court had earlier cancelled the bail of woman's brother in the matter.

Jaipur-based Mamta had married Amit Nair, hailing from Kerala, against the wishes of her parents and brother in 2015. Nair was shot dead allegedly by a hired killer in 2017.

The bench, also comprising Justices Surya Kant and Aniruddha Bose, issued notice in the matter. It was argued that the mother of the woman had allegedly played an active role in the killing of her son-in-law, and counsel contended that the woman's mother and father have been wrongly granted bail in the matter.

The bench observed that it will consider the plea for cancellation of bail of father later when the woman files a separate petition.

The Supreme Court had last month cancelled the bail of the woman's brother, who was accused of conspiring to murder his Keralite brother-in-law, shot dead in front of his pregnant wife in an alleged case of honour killing.

It had set aside a Rajasthan High Court order, which granted bail to the woman's brother. The bench had said: "We are of the considered opinion that the order dated December 1, 2020 passed by the High Court of Judicature for Rajasthan, Bench at Jaipur, impugned herein is not sustainable. The same is accordingly set aside and the bail granted to respondent No. 2 is cancelled."

The bench said: "We, therefore, direct the respondent No 2, Mukesh Chaudhary to surrender before the court of upper district and sessions judge, Jaipur City. We make it clear that we have not expressed any opinion on the merits of the case and the trial court shall consider the case being uninfluenced by any of the observations herein."