SC says Meghalaya honeymoon murder accused will remain on bail as she's already out

Published 3 July 2026 · general

Meghalaya honeymoon murder accused Sonam Raghuvanshi will remain out on bail for now after the Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to interfere with the bail

Meghalaya honeymoon murder accused Sonam Raghuvanshi will remain out on bail for now after the Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to interfere with the bail granted to her by the High Court, even as it issued notice on the Meghalaya Police's plea seeking cancellation of her bail. The top court said the allegations against Sonam were "quite serious" and agreed to examine the Meghalaya Police's challenge to the bail order in detail on Thursday. However, after being informed that Sonam had already been released, the bench said it did not wish to interfere at this stage. Read Full Story "If she is released already, we would not want to interfere," the bench observed. Earlier during the hearing, the court had indicated that it was inclined to stay the bail order before learning that Sonam had already been released.

Appearing for the Meghalaya Police, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta submitted that Sonam's earlier bail applications had been rejected and argued that the case did not involve a failure to communicate the grounds of arrest. According to him, the issue related only to a clerical error in one section. Counsel appearing for Sonam sought time to respond to the police's plea. During the hearing, Sonam's lawyer argued that she had not even been provided legal representation when she was arrested and produced for transit remand. The counsel contended that she had not been informed of the grounds of her arrest and had only been served with a blank proforma. The bench, however, questioned why the issue had not been raised earlier. "The question comes that when you didn't raise this issue earlier, can you be allowed to raise it at this stage?" the court asked.

The court also asked whether, even if bail had been granted on such a technical ground, the law would prevent the authorities from arresting her again. "If the trial court grants bail only on this technical ground, would the law debar them from arresting you again?" the bench observed. The court noted that Sonam had remained incarcerated for a considerable period. "We are conscious that she has been incarcerated for quite a long time. The rule of bail is the rule and jail is the exception... The issue is that we will have to consider the matter," the bench said. Opposing cancellation of bail, Sonam's counsel argued that no recovery remained to be made and that strict conditions had already been imposed. The lawyer told the court that Sonam was already in Shillong and could not travel, adding that there was no possibility of her tampering with evidence.