The Madhya Pradesh High Court has rejected the anticipatory bail granted to retired Bhopal district judge Giribala Singh in the Twisha Sharma dowry harassment and death case, quashing an order by a local Bhopal court passed on May 15.
The anticipatory bail had been granted to her by a Sessions court in Bhopal on May 15, just hours after an FIR was lodged by local police in the case, booking her and her son Samarth Singh, Twisha’s husband.
A Single Bench of Justice Devnarayan Mishra issued the order, which had been reserved in the afternoon, late on Thursday (May 27, 2026) night, after hearing two petitions, one by Twisha’s father, Navnidhi Sharma and another by the State Government, challenging the bail granted to Ms. Singh.
During the hearing on Thursday (May 27, 2026) Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Madhya Pradesh Government argued that “the manner in which anticipatory bail was obtained, creates doubt that the trial Court did not consider the aspect relevant for granting anticipatory bail”.
“After granting bail, the respondent was making Press Conferences and making allegations against the deceased and flouting the law. In such a serious matter, when the girl, aged about 33 years, lost her life, the respondent has no remorse and has not tried to cooperate with the Investigating Agency. The trial Court did not consider a single line of the prosecution witnesses and totally believed in the defence documents,” he argued.
In its observations, the High Court noted that some of the injuries found on Twisha’s body were “not caused due to taking out the body from the ligature or carrying out to the hospital” and that one head injury “was antemortem”, suffered before death.
“As per the postmortem report, the death was due to antemortem hanging by ligature, but from the postmortem, it is also clear that six other injuries were found in the body of the deceased, in which four injuries were on the left arm, one on the ring finger and one on the head, and that was antemortem. From the query report, it is also clear that these injuries were not caused by taking out the body from the ligature or carrying out to the hospital,” it observed.
It also said that the trial court did not consider allegations, presented by the victim’s family, against Ms. Singh while granting her the anticipatory bail.
“In light of the above factual aspects of the case and the allegation levelled against the respondent [Ms. Singh], the anticipatory bail order dated May 15, 2026, passed by the 10th Additional Sessions Judge, Bhopal, for the offence punishable under Sections 80(2), 85, 3(5) of BNS, 2023 and Sections 3 & 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961, is hereby quashed,” the court ruled.
The CBI is expected to arrest Ms. Singh soon, as its counsel Mr. Suyash Guru, said in the court that her custodial interrogation may be required for the case.
“Mystery revolving around the death of the deceased, possible involvement of the influential accused and non-cooperation shown during ongoing investigation, it indicates that the matter is at the initial stage, therefore, custodial interrogation of the respondent may be required and to support their contention,”he said.
The CBI, which took over the case from an SIT of the Bhopal Police on May 25, also became an intervener in the two petition and sought quashing of the local court’s anticipatory bail order, with its counsel Deputy Solicitor General Suyash Mohan Guru claiming that Ms. Singh’s sister who is a private doctor in Bhopal, Dr. Rajbala Singh Bhadoriya, and another private doctor were present inside the post-mortem room during the first autopsy conducted at AIIMS Bhopal on May 13.
The CBI counsel also claimed that the accused had not been able to provide any explanation about some of the injuries found on Twisha’s body.
Earlier on Wednesday (May 28, 2026), a local Bhopal court transferred the custody of Samarth Singh, who was nabbed by the Bhopal Police on May 22, to the CBI. A CBI team also took Mr. Singh to his residence to inspect the house where Twisha was found dead on May 12 night.
Published – May 28, 2026 01:48 am IST
