Bail in 99.6% of dowry death cases: Allahabad High Court judge faces scrutiny after Supreme Court criticism An Allahabad High Court judge granted bail in nearly all dowry death cases heard by his bench over three months in 2025, according to a report by The Indian Express. Justice Pankaj Bhatia issued bail in 508 of 510 cases, representing 99.61% of the total, under Section 304B of the Indian Penal Code and other relevant provisions. The decision drew sharp criticism from the Supreme Court, which called one of the bail orders “most shocking and disappointing.” The Supreme Court’s intervention followed a February 9 ruling by a bench led by Justices J B Pardiwala and K V Vishwanathan, which overturned Bhatia’s order. The court expressed confusion over the reasoning behind the bail grant, emphasizing that the High Court should have considered the severity of the crime, the prescribed punishment, the relationship between the accused and the deceased, and medical evidence. The court canceled the bail in the specific case and directed the accused to surrender. The case in question involved the death of 28-year-old Sushma Devi from Shrawasti district, whose body was found on her matrimonial home’s verandah less than two months after her wedding. Her father alleged that the groom’s family demanded a car after the wedding, despite a cash gift of Rs 3.5 lakh. A Sessions Court had previously denied bail, citing postmortem findings of “asphyxia due to antemortem strangulation” and injuries on the victim’s neck. The report highlighted inconsistencies in Bhatia’s bail orders, noting that the structure and language of the decisions, as well as the bond amounts, were largely uniform across cases, despite varying circumstances.#supreme_court #allahabad_high_court #pankaj_bhatia #sushma_devi #shrawasti_district
