In Brief
In this criminal appeal, the Supreme Court set aside a High Court order granting bail to a woman accused of conspiracy and murder. The accused's husband allegedly hired a sharpshooter to murder a village sarpanch who was about to testify in a prior case against her. The High Court granted bail on grounds that she was a woman, had spent three years in custody, and no 'overt act' was assigned to her. The Court held this reasoning was erroneous: the charge-sheet detailed her use of multiple phone numbers to contact the sharpshooter, her custodianship of weapons, and her provision of the victim's location. The Court stressed that bail decisions must rigorously apply established principles regarding crime seriousness, evidence strength, and flight risk, and cannot rest on gender alone or mechanical application of other single factors.
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