Kerala High Court Dismisses Jolly Joseph's Bail Plea, Says Bail Could Risk Exposing Witnesses To Possible Threat At Her Hands

The application under consideration in the present case arose from the charges laid against her for the death of her father-in-law Tom.

A Single Bench of Justice Ashok Menon dismissed her application on Monday remarking,

"The applicant is not entitled to any indulgence from this court."

In the bail order released on Monday evening, the Court recounts the facts of the case. In the course of the Order, the Court higlighted that statements made by her son as well as other close relatives pointed to her complicity in the killings.

The Counsel for the petitioner, Advocate BA Aloor, argued that Joseph was entitled to bail since her trial was likely to be protracted in light of Covid-19 restrictions.

Iterating principles evolved by the Supreme Court to determine whether an accused was to be allowed bail, such as the possibility of tampering with evidence, the nature of the accusation and the severity of

punishment in case of conviction, the Court found Joseph disentitled to bail.

Taking into consideration Senior Public Prosecutor Suman Chakravarthy's submission that Joseph had attempted to commit self-harm by slitting her wrists, the Court concluded that she could not be allowed bail.

Apart from this, she could not be allowed bail since there was every possibility of her

influencing or intimidating witnesses and repeating

similar offences, the Court said.

The Court also drew on jurisprudence on the balance to be struck between personal liberty and detention, noting that:

• Article 21 which guarantees the right to personal liberty also contemplates its deprivation by procedure established by law. Kalyan Chandra Sarkar v. Pappu Yadav (2005)2 SCC 42
• In its collective wisdom, society through process of law can withdraw an individual's sanctioned liberty s/he becomes a danger to the collective and to the societal order. Neeru Yadav vs. State of Uttar Pradesh, (2014) 16 SCC 508

• A bail application cannot be allowed solely or

exclusively on the ground that the presumption of innocence is a fundamental principle of criminal jurisprudence Virupakshappa Gouda and Another v. State of Karnataka and Another AIR 2017 SC

Exhorting the trial court to dispose of her case expeditiously, the High Court dismissed Joseph's bail application.

Joseph has been charged with killing members of her family primarily in order to take control of the family property and subsequently to marry her second husband.

As per the prosecution's stance, she killed her father-in-law to prevent him from bequeathing his property to her brother-in-law.

Case number: BA 6510/2020

Cause title: Jollyamma Joseph v. State of Kerala

Advocates Biju Antony Aloor, Jobin Abraham, T.S.Krishnendu, K.P.Prasanth, Archana Suresh,Shafin Ahammed, Arunraj S., Hijas T.T.,Surya Raj N.S., Vishnu Dileep and Vijayan M.K. appeared for Joseph.

Senior Public Prosecutor Suman Chakravarthy appeared for the State.

Click Here To Download/Read Order