‘Wife-beater’ doc granted bail

Mumbai: The Bombay high court allowed the anticipatory bail application (ABA) filed by a doctor, who was accused of beating his wife on 18 occasions on failing to get Rs 3 crore from her father. The bench of Justice A.M. Bandar held that as the doctor had attended police station on previous investigations, he could be granted an ABA.

The doctor was allegedly demanding the amount on grounds of wanting to start a hospital. He also claimed to have paid his father-in-law, a builder, Rs 29 lakh towards a premise, for which he was neither given possession nor a refund.

The accused doctor was booked by the Borivali police for crimes under the various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including subjecting wife to cruelty, abusing and subjecting wife to threat and abuse and for causing physical harm.

While opposing the ABA, the additional public prosecutor referred to the affidavit filed by the doctor’s wife, which said that the accused had asked his wife to get a huge sum from her father to establish a hospital and on her failure to do so, had beaten her up on 18 different occasion.

The prosecution even produced proof of these beatings to convince the court against granting the ABA.

However, the counsel for the doctor informed the court that since 2012, the doctor had been paying some amount regularly to the father-in-law towards buying a flat in a project being developed by him. The doctor had in all paid Rs 29 lakh but the flat was not delivered and the complaints by the wife against him were intended to discourage him from demanding a refund.

After hearing both sides, the court observed that it was a matrimonial dispute and would be resolved hence custodial interrogation of the doctor was not required. The court granted the ABA of the accused, as he had not breached the condition of attending the police officer for the purpose of investigation.