The Bombay high court on March 17 granted pre-arrest bail to the widow of actor Sandeep Nahar in an alleged case of abetment of suicide. Sandeep was found dead in February 2021 at his Bombay residence and is alleged to have committed suicide. He had posted his intention on social media via a video post. His father registered an FIR against Sandeep’s wife and mother-in-law, invoking section 306 (abetment of suicide) read with section 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.
The widow, Kanchan Sharma, who is a model and stock broker, approached the high court last year for pre-arrest bail after a sessions court at Dindoshi in Bombay rejected her plea but granted her mother anticipatory bail. The high court plea said that while the video post was being treated as his ‘suicide note’, it “does not in any sentence state that she must be held responsible for his death” nor does it say that she had instigated or abetted the suicide. She denied the accusation of her having abetted his suicide.
Kanchan’s lawyer said that the Goregaon (Bombay) police had issued her a notice under section 41A of the Criminal Procedure Code to seek her explanation. She had then approached the subordinate court for relief, but her pre-arrest bail plea was rejected on February 24, 2021, after which she sought relief from the high court. On March 10 last year, the high court had granted her interim protection while adjourning her plea to March 15, 2021 by directing that “till then, the applicant shall not be arrested”. The interim protection continued till March this year, till the HC finally heard her application and granted her pre-arrest bail, saying that in case of arrest, she shall be released on a bail bond.