‘Police failed to properly communicate the grounds of her arrest’
Shillong, April 28: Sonam Raghuvanshi, the prime accused in the murder of her husband Raja Raghuvanshi at Sohra, was granted bail by a court, which ruled that police failed to properly communicate the grounds of her arrest.
Disposing of her bail application on Monday, the court of Additional DC (Judicial) DR Kharbteng said the procedural lapse breached the constitutional safeguard under Article 22(1) and prejudiced the accused’s defence.
The court pointed at “glaring discrepancies” in the arrest paperwork with different sections applied at different stages of the case.
The judge rejected the prosecution’s argument of a clerical error, noting the same mistake appeared across multiple documents.
“In all documents pertaining to Sonam Raghuvanshi, from the check list for justification of arrest, memo of arrest, inspection memo, intimation of rights of the arrested person, extract of case diary, the sections referred to in all the documents is… u/s 403(1),” the court said.
However, the court said, “Specific facts constituting the offence has not been communicated to the accused person.”
The court found that “sufficient knowledge of facts constituting grounds of arrest, has not been effectively communicated to the petitioner herein in clear terms,” adding that “prejudice has been caused to her as far as her defense is concerned.”
It also noted that “there is nothing on record to show that the petitioner was represented by a counsel at the time when she was first produced before the court at Ghazipur.”
Citing the Supreme Court’s decision in Vihaan Kumar and the Meghalaya High Court ruling in Labius Arengh, the court held, “Under the peculiar facts and circumstances of this case, this Court is convinced that the petitioner has been able to make out a case of not having been effectively communicated the grounds of arrest upon her arrest.”
“Accordingly… the petitioner is entitled to be released on bail,” it ordered.
Sonam Raghuvanshi, who has spent over 10 months in the District Prison and Correctional Home, Shillong since her arrest on June 9, 2025, from Ghazipur, Uttar Pradesh, will be released on a personal bond of Rs 50,000 with two sureties of the same amount.
Meanwhile, the court directed the accused not to abscond or tamper with the evidence or witnesses and that she shall not leave the jurisdiction of the court.
The case stems from an FIR lodged by Vipin Raghuvanshi on June 3, 2025, after his brother Raja Raghuvanshi’s body was found during a police search.
The trial is underway with four of 90 prosecution witnesses examined so far.
A supplementary chargesheet filed on February 10, 2026, named Shilom James as a co-accused and added Arms Act charges against Sonam and two others, while seeking discharge of Balla Ahirwal and Lokendra Tomar.
“Application is allowed and disposed of,” the order concluded.
