The Meghalaya government has taken the step of appealing to the Supreme Court against the Meghalaya High Court’s decision to uphold the bail granted to Sonam Raghuvanshi, the main suspect in the Raja Raghuvanshi honeymoon murder case. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the state government, emphasized the urgency of the matter and requested a prompt hearing before a Bench led by Justice M.M. Sundresh. The bail was sanctioned due to the alleged failure to provide the complete grounds of arrest to the accused at the time of her apprehension.
Expressing concerns about the possibility of the accused fleeing, the Solicitor General urged for the expeditious listing of the state government’s Special Leave Petition (SLP). Following the arguments presented, Justice Sundresh agreed to schedule an early hearing for the case. The Meghalaya High Court had recently affirmed a lower court’s decision to grant bail to Sonam Raghuvanshi, dismissing the state government’s appeal against this ruling.
The Shillong court’s order granting bail to Sonam was upheld by the High Court, which rejected the prosecution’s challenge to the arrest procedures. The court had found significant procedural lapses in Sonam’s arrest, leading to the grant of bail. Despite the prosecution’s claims that the errors were minor, the court maintained that the accused was not properly informed of the murder charge during her arrest. The Meghalaya government’s contention that the procedural irregularities did not harm the accused was also dismissed by the High Court.
