BHOPAL: Former judge Giribala Singh will have to spend Diwali at Bhopal Central Jail, with the Madhya Pradesh High Court rejecting her first regular bail application in the May 12, 2026, dowry death case involving her daughter-in-law, Twisha Sharma.
With the rejection of her bail plea, the 65-year-old former judge will remain in judicial custody at the same jail where her son and Twisha’s husband, Samarth Singh, has also been lodged for the past 156 days.
Rejecting Giribala’s bail application on Wednesday, a single-judge Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court in Jabalpur, presided over by Justice Ajay Kumar Nirankari, observed:
“Considering the overall facts and circumstances of the case, the nature and gravity of the allegations, the material collected during investigation, the circumstances immediately preceding the death of the deceased, the CCTV footage, the post-mortem reports and, particularly, the fact that further investigation under Section 193(9) of the BNSS is still in progress and important forensic reports and digital extraction reports are awaited, this Court is not inclined to enlarge the applicant on bail at this stage.”
Rejecting the applicant’s contention regarding the absence of mens rea (guilty mind), the High Court held that the question of mens rea "cannot be examined in isolation at this stage" and must be considered in the light of the entire material collected during the investigation. It also found the facts of the judgment cited by the applicant to be distinguishable and its legal reasoning not directly applicable to the present case.
In its 23-page order, the High Court noted that the case diary revealed that disputes had arisen between the deceased and the applicant after Twisha consumed MTP pills to terminate her pregnancy. Transcripts of recorded conversations between the two also appeared to indicate this, the court observed.
The court further noted that Twisha’s WhatsApp conversations with her mother and sister-in-law indicated that she was allegedly subjected to continuous mental harassment and cruelty.
In a chat dated May 9, 2026, Twisha reportedly described how her husband questioned the paternity of the child and asked whether that was why she had terminated the pregnancy. She also said she felt suffocated in the marriage.
Chats dated May 11 recorded her complaint that the accused attributed her state of mind to drugs and that she felt trapped in her matrimonial home. The court said these conversations, at this stage, prima facie indicated the mental distress she had experienced before the incident.
Relying on the case diary, the High Court also recorded that, on the day of the incident (May 12, 2026), Twisha had booked a train ticket to return to her parental home in Nasirabad. She had allegedly complained that her husband was pressuring her to transfer her investments to the Chinese share market.
During telephone calls between approximately 9.20 pm and 10.05 pm, she reportedly told her family in tears that her husband had become aggressive and violent towards her and asked them to reach her as soon as possible.
The CCTV footage showed the bail applicant, followed by her son and Twisha’s husband, Samarth Singh, going towards the terrace of their Bhopal residence at around 10.23 pm. The applicant subsequently came downstairs to open the main gate, after which the deceased was carried down the stairs. She was declared dead at AIIMS Bhopal at around 10.55 pm.
Both post-mortem examinations, the first conducted at AIIMS Bhopal and the second on May 24, 2026, by a medical board at AIIMS New Delhi, attributed the death to asphyxia due to antemortem hanging.
The court also noted that data extraction from the deceased’s iPhone was awaited and could reveal further evidence and identify additional witnesses.
The digital video recorder (DVR) data from the applicant’s residence had been sent to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) in New Delhi to verify the continuity and authenticity of the CCTV footage. The court observed that any evidence of alteration or tampering could necessitate further investigation.
The High Court further noted that the case diary contained material suggesting that, after the incident, the applicant had allegedly contacted certain influential persons holding high positions. The circumstances surrounding these communications required examination as part of the ongoing investigation, it said.
The court held that, in view of the WhatsApp conversations immediately preceding the incident, the CCTV footage, the circumstances in which the deceased was found and the subsequent conduct of the accused, the plea of absence of mens rea could not be considered in isolation from the other circumstances recorded in the case diary.
Considering the nature and gravity of the allegations, the evidence collected so far and the pending forensic and digital examination reports, the court declined to grant bail at this stage.
Giribala Singh and her son, Samarth Singh, are accused in the high-profile death case, which has been investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) since May 25, 2026. The charges include Sections 80(2) (dowry death), 85 (cruelty), 108 (abetment of suicide) and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), along with Sections 3 and 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act.
The mother-son duo has been in judicial custody since June 2, 2026, and has spent 156 days at Bhopal Central Jail.
Twisha Sharma, 33, a former Miss Pune titleholder, model and actor, was found hanging at her matrimonial residence in Bhopal’s Katara Hills area on May 12.