Supreme Court Quashes Sonam Raghuvanshi's Bail in Meghalaya Honeymoon Murder Case
The Supreme Court on Thursday quashed the bail granted by the Meghalaya High Court to Sonam Raghuvanshi, who is accused of murdering her husband during their honeymoon in the state in May 2025. The apex court directed her to surrender within three weeks.
A bench of Justices M M Sundresh and P B Varale ruled that inadequate communication of grounds of arrest does not automatically invalidate an arrest. The court distinguished between complete non-service of grounds of arrest and inadequate communication, stating that while the former would vitiate an arrest, the latter requires examining whether prejudice was caused to the accused.
The Meghalaya High Court had granted bail to Raghuvanshi on her fourth attempt, citing a technical error: the arrest documents mentioned Section 403(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) instead of Section 103(1), which pertains to murder. The Supreme Court, however, held that the non-furnishing of grounds of arrest could not be raised belatedly, especially since her regular bail plea had been rejected on merits earlier.
The bench noted that Raghuvanshi had expressed satisfaction regarding the reasons for her arrest at the time. The court also observed that the High Court's order was based on a Supreme Court judgment delivered on November 6, 2025, which mandated furnishing written grounds of arrest. However, Raghuvanshi was arrested on June 9, 2025, before that judgment was pronounced.
The Supreme Court admitted that cancelling the bail was a tough decision but stated that her continued enlargement at this stage could hinder the trial. The court allowed her to file a fresh bail plea after six months.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and the state's Advocate General Amit Kumar had argued that the High Court wrongly granted bail on a technicality, as the police had inadvertently cited the wrong section number.
