The Supreme Court on Friday refused to stay the Meghalaya High Court order granting bail to Sonam Raghuvanshi, arrested for murdering her husband during their honeymoon in Meghalaya in 2025.
A bench of Justices M.M. Sundaresh and Sheel Nagu took some prima facie objections to the High Court’s decision but refused to stay the bail. The court took note of the fact that Raghuvanshi has been released from jail and is living in Shillong as per the bail conditions granted by the trial court.
Serious allegations have been made against Sonam Raghuvanshi
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the state government, said that the allegations against Raghuvanshi are very serious and he cannot be granted bail merely on the basis of technical reasons. Mehta said the case was “really shocking”. He sought a stay on the bail order of the High Court, saying that the bail was granted on the basis that all the reasons for the arrest were not disclosed. Solicitor General said – “This is the same case in which the husband and wife had gone to Meghalaya for honeymoon. It was a premeditated murder. Her three accomplices were also involved in it. She murdered her husband on a hill and threw the body in a deep ditch. All three attackers and the woman herself were also involved in the attack. After this she absconded and was later arrested from Uttar Pradesh.” High Court refuses to stay bail
Solicitor General said- If the High Court order is not stayed, she may abscond. Mehta also referred to the decision of the Uttar Pradesh magistrate granting transit remand, who had written in his order that the reasons for the arrest were explained to Sonam. The Supreme Court told Raghuvanshi’s lawyer, “Prima facie we have some objections to the decision of the High Court. We have objections to the way the High Court has looked into this matter.” Sonam’s lawyer said that the trial court has imposed strict bail conditions and she will have to stay in Shillong, hence there is no possibility of her absconding. After this, the Supreme Court said that Sonam has already been released from jail, hence it is not in favor of staying the bail order. The court said- “If she has been released, we cannot stay this order now.”
This is the whole matter
The court also said that it initially thought he was still in jail. After this the Solicitor General tried to convince the court by citing the seriousness of the crime. He said that cases of murder of husbands by wives are increasing. He also mentioned the recent Lohagarh case, in which a woman was accused of murdering her fiance. Raghuvanshi, a resident of Indore, Madhya Pradesh, was arrested in June last year in the case of murder of her businessman husband Raja Raghuvanshi. Both of them had gone for a walk in Sohra area of Meghalaya on May 23 last year and went missing there. After this, on June 2, 2025, the body of Raja Raghuvanshi was found in a deep ditch. Police allege that Sonam Raghuvanshi had conspired with hired attackers to murder her husband. On June 29, the Meghalaya High Court had upheld the bail granted to Raghuvanshi by the lower court. The high court had rejected a petition by the state government, which had sought cancellation of the bail granted by the lower court on April 27. The High Court had said that the manner in which the reasons for arrest were decided clearly showed a “complete lack of judicial approach”.