The Supreme Court on Thursday said it may refer to a larger bench the legal issue of whether a typographical error in an arrest memo is sufficient to invalidate an arrest and justify the grant of bail, while hearing the Meghalaya government's challenge to bail granted to Sonam Raghuvanshi in the alleged murder of her husband.
A partial working day Bench of Justices Manoj Misra and Shree Chandrashekhar indicated that it would also examine whether the Meghalaya High Court was justified in granting bail to Raghuvanshi solely on the ground that the arrest memo contained an incorrect statutory provision.
Appearing for the Meghalaya government, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta argued that the error in the arrest memo was purely clerical and should not outweigh the seriousness of the offence.
"In this matter, this is a very serious case where bail is granted on the grounds that grounds (of arrest) were not supplied... though at the time of arrest, there is a record that there is a supply of grounds," he submitted.
The High Court had upheld the bail granted by a trial court after finding that the police failed to provide proper written grounds of arrest. It observed a "total non-application of judicious mind" as the arrest memo referred to Section 403 instead of Section 103(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), which deals with the punishment for murder.
The Bench noted that conflicting judicial pronouncements on the requirement of furnishing written grounds of arrest would have to be reconciled.
"We will consider this matter at length. We will decide whether this requires to be referred to a larger bench," Justice Misra said.
Emphasising the gravity of the allegations, Mehta said the case should not turn on a technical error.
"This is the case where both of them went on honeymoon in Meghalaya. It was a premeditated murder. She killed the husband on a hill and threw the body into a gorge... This is a very, very serious offense," he said.
The Bench directed the Meghalaya Police to produce legible photocopies of the original documents supplied to the accused at the time of arrest to verify what information had actually been communicated.
"If this ground (the technicality) is not sustainable, then the bail order goes," Justice Misra orally observed.
The matter assumes significance as another Bench of the apex court, on July 3, declined to stay the High Court's order granting bail to Raghuvanshi.
Raghuvanshi, a resident of Indore in Madhya Pradesh, was arrested in June last year in connection with the alleged murder of her businessman husband, Raja Raghuvanshi.
The couple had gone missing while on their honeymoon in Meghalaya's Sohra area on May 23 last year. Raja Raghuvanshi's body was recovered from a deep gorge on June 2, 2025.
According to the police, Sonam Raghuvanshi conspired with hired assailants to kill her husband for financial gain.
On June 29, the Meghalaya High Court upheld the trial court's April 27 order granting her bail after rejecting the State government's plea seeking cancellation of the relief. It held that the manner in which the grounds of arrest were prepared reflected a "total non-application of judicious mind".
(With inputs from PTI)
