Sonam Raghuvanshi granted bail: How a clerical error helped honeymoon murder accused secure relief
Sonam Raghuvanshi, accused of killing her husband, Raja Raghuvanshi during their honeymoon in Meghalaya in 2025 was granted bail on Tuesday. However, according to the documents, Sonam might have secured the bail due to a clerical error by the cops.
Sonam Raghuvanshi's bail was rejected thrice in the past.
An FIR was registered in 2025 in connection with the 2025 honeymoon murder case under Section 103 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 pertaining to murder. In Sonam's case, under the "Intimation of Grounds of Arrest", Section 403 (1) of the BNS was mentioned, the court noted.
"A bare perusal of the Intimation of Grounds of arrest would indicate that the Petitioner was not informed about the offence under section (u/s) 103(1) BNS. Though it has been argued that this is a clerical error, however such error cannot occur in all documents," the court order read.
According to the court order, all the documents pertaining to Sonam Raghuvanshi including arrest memo, inspection memo, intimation of rights memo, and even entries in the case diary mentioned a "non-existent Section 403(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita" which police described as a clerical error.
The court said that the reasons for arrest must already exist before they are communicated to the accused.
It also pointed out that in the arrest form, none of the checkboxes were marked to clearly show the allegations against Sonam.
No legal representation:
The court observed that there was no record showing Sonam had a lawyer when she was first presented before the court in Ghazipur. Because of this, the court rejected the argument that she gave up her right by raising the issue later.
Bail granted with conditions:
Sonam Raghuvanshi was granted bail by Additional DC (Judicial) Dashalene R Kharbteng in Shillong, with four conditions:
- With inputs from agencies
