Kaushlendra Shukla vs The State Of Madhya Pradesh

NEUTRAL CITATION NO. 2026:MPHC-JBP:37553
1 MCRC-13290-2026
IN THE HIGH COURT OF MADHYA PRADESH
AT JABALPUR

BEFORE
HON'BLE SHRI JUSTICE RAMKUMAR CHOUBEY
th
ON THE 11 OF MAY, 2026
MISC. CRIMINAL CASE No. 13290 of 2026
KAUSHLENDRA SHUKLA
Versus
THE STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH
Appearance:
Shri Anil Khare - Senior Advocate with Shri Arunodaya Singh -
Advocate for the applicant.
Shri Sandeep Dubey - Panel Lawyer for the respondent/State.
ORDER
This is third application filed under Section 483 of the Bharatiya
Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 by the applicant for grant of regular bail
relating to Crime No.645/2023 registered at Police Station Civil Lines,
District Rewa, for the offence punishable under Sections 302, 330, 331 read
with Section 34 of IPC. The applicant is in custody since 23.01.2025.
2. Applicant's first application (M.Cr.C. No.8976/2025) faced dismissal
as got withdrawn vide order dated 12.03.2025 passed by the Coordinate
Bench of this Court. His second application (M.Cr.C. No.19103/2025) was
also dismissed as withdrawn vide order dated 07.05.2025 with liberty liberty
to file anew after examination of material prosecution witnesses.
3. According to the prosecution, 53-year-old Rajkali Kewat, a domestic
worker for Pratiksha Singh Sengar and Yashovardhan Singh, was accused of
Signature Not Verified
Signed by: SUDESH KUMAR
SHUKLA
Signing time: 12-05-2026
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stealing gold ornaments from their home on 28.10.2023. On 30.10.2023, she

was taken to the Civil Lines Police Station in Rewa. The prosecution alleges
that during interrogation, the applicant and other officers, in the presence of
the complainants, subjected the deceased to brutal physical assault with
plastic pipes and electric shocks to force a confession. The post-mortem
confirmed 27 injuries, citing the cause of death as shock and hemorrhage
resulting from homicidal violence. While family members' statements of the
deceased specifically implicate the employers in the torture. CCTV footage
allegedly shows the deceased being assaulted while in police custody. She
succumbed to her injuries at SGMH Hospital on 31.10.2023.
3. Learned senior counsel for the applicant submits that the applicant is
rotting in jail since long i.e. 23.01.2025. He further submits that co-accused
persons have already been admitted to bail. He also submits that other
officials appeared in the CCTV footage have not been arrayed as accused. It
is evident from the statement of witnesses that co-accused Pratibha, who was
employer of deceased, had also beaten her prior to taking her into custody,
therefore, it cannot be said that deceased died due to injury caused by the
applicant. He also submits that judicial enquiry on the basis of CCTV
footage captured in the cameras installed in the police station cannot be
given preference over the direct evidence. As per the learned senior counsel,
it is not a case of murder and at the most it can be a case under Section 331
of IPC. On these premise, learned senior counsel prays that the applicant
may be granted bail.
4. Conversely, learned counsel for the respondent/State vehemently
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Signed by: SUDESH KUMAR
SHUKLA
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opposes the application and submits that it is crystal clear from the evidence

available on record that the deceased was taken to police station along her
family members including her husband and at that time she was physically fit
and no visible injury could be seen on her body which could become a cause
of her death. She died in the police custody and the report of Judicial
Magistrate categorically stated that the applicant and police personnel had
brutally beaten her by plastic pipes and also administered electric shocks in
order to extract confession and recover stolen properties. As per autopsy,
there were as many as 27 injuries on the person of deceased, which mostly
were contusions and speak about the barbarity of torture. He further submits
that fallaciously the police prepared the memorandum, seizure and arrest
memo so as to save their skin. He further submits that not arraying other
persons as accused would not help the applicant in any manner to get bail.
He also submits that the co-accused who have been enlarged on bail were
having different grounds like ailment and femininity. Ergo, the application
deserves outright dismissal.
5. At the stage of bail, the evidence on merits is not required to be
appreciated or examined, but the same is to be tested on the basis of settled
legal position or parameters set at rest. Undoubtedly, the nature and
seriousness of the offence is one of the aspects, which must be considered
while granting or declining the bail. So far as the offence alleged against the
applicant along with co-accused persons, is concerned, it is nothing but a
case of custodial death.
6. The heinousness of custodial death lies in its nature as a betrayal of
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SHUKLA
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public trust, where the protector becomes the predator under the cloak of

legal authority. When an individual dies in the custody of the state, it is not
merely a localized crime but a profound failure of the constitutional
machinery that guarantees the Right to Life. This act sends a message to
society that power can be exercised without accountability and that the law is
not a shield for the vulnerable, but a weapon for the strong.
7. The Supreme Court in the case of D.K. Basu v. State of W.B. (1997)
1 SCC 416 has observed as under:-

"22. Custodial death is perhaps one of the worst crimes
in a civilised society governed by the rule of law. The
rights inherent in Articles 21 and 22(1) of the
Constitution require to be jealously and scrupulously
protected. We cannot wish away the problem. Any form
of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment
would fall within the inhibition of Article 21 of the
Constitution, whether it occurs during investigation,
interrogation or otherwise. If the functionaries of the
Government become law-breakers, it is bound to breed
contempt for law and would encourage lawlessness and
every man would have the tendency to become law unto
himself thereby leading to anarchanism. No civilised
nation can permit that to happen. Does a citizen shed
off his fundamental right to life, the moment a
policeman arrests him? Can the right to life of a citizen
be put in abeyance on his arrest? These questions touch
the spinal cord of human rights' jurisprudence. The
answer, indeed, has to be an emphatic “No”. The
precious right guaranteed by Article 21 of the
Constitution of India cannot be denied to convicts,
undertrials, detenus and other prisoners in custody,
except according to the procedure established by law by
placing such reasonable restrictions as are permitted by
law."

8. The Supreme Court in the case of Shakila Abdul Gafar Khan (Smt.) v.
Vasant Raghunath Dhoble and another (2003) 7 SCC 749, which was
reiterated in Munshi Singh Gautam and others v. State M.P. (2005) 9 SCC
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SHUKLA
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631, has observed as under:-


"7. The exaggerated adherence to and insistence upon
the establishment of proof beyond every reasonable
doubt by the prosecution, at times even when the
prosecuting agencies are themselves fixed in the dock,
ignoring the ground realities, the fact situation and the
peculiar circumstances of a given case, as in the present
case, often results in miscarriage of justice and makes
the justice delivery system suspect and vulnerable. In
the ultimate analysis the society suffers and a criminal
gets encouraged. Tortures in police custody, which of
late are on the increase, receive encouragement by this
type of an unrealistic approach at times of the courts as
well because it reinforces the belief in the mind of the
police that no harm would come to them if one prisoner
dies in the lock-up because there would hardly be any
evidence available to the prosecution to directly
implicate them with the torture. The courts must not
lose sight of the fact that death in police custody is
perhaps one of the worst kind of crimes in a civilized
society, governed by the rule of law and poses a serious
threat to an orderly civilized society. Torture in custody
flouts the basic rights of the citizens recognized by the
Indian Constitution and is an affront to human dignity.
Police excesses and the maltreatment of
detainees/undertrial prisoners or suspects tarnishes the
image of any civilised nation and encourages the men in
“khaki” to consider themselves to be above the law and
sometimes even to become a law unto themselves.
Unless stern measures are taken to check the malady of
the very fence eating the crops, the foundations of the
criminal justice delivery system would be shaken and
civilization itself would risk the consequence of heading
towards total decay resulting in anarchy and
authoritarianism reminiscent of barbarism. The courts
must, therefore, deal with such cases in a realistic
manner and with the sensitivity which they deserve,
otherwise the common man may tend to gradually lose
faith in the efficacy of the system of the judiciary itself,
which if it happens will be a sad day for anyone to
reckon with."
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Signed by: SUDESH KUMAR
SHUKLA
Signing time: 12-05-2026
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9. Considering the overall facts and circumstances of the case
including the nature and heinousness of the offence and evidence available
on record, this Court is not inclined to grant bail to the application.
10. Accordingly, the application is dismissed.
(RAMKUMAR CHOUBEY)
JUDGE
Sudesh

Signature Not Verified
Signed by: SUDESH KUMAR
SHUKLA
Signing time: 12-05-2026
18:29:29