KISAN DAVYA BILKULEversusTHE STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

2026:BHC-AUG:39477
                                                                            BA1465-26

                     IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
                                BENCH AT AURANGABAD

                            BAIL APPLICATION NO. 1465 OF 2026

                  Kisan Davya Bilkule                            ...   Applicant
                  Age 42 years, Occu: agri
                  R/o Rah Bas Pandhari Mata Shivar,
                  Tq. Pimpalner, District Dhule

                  VERSUS

                  The State of Maharashtra                       … Respondent


            Ms. Tanvi V. Jadhav, Advocate for the Applicant (Appointed)
            Mr. V. K. Kotecha, Addl. PP, for the respondent-State


                                   CORAM : HITEN S. VENEGAVKAR, J.
                                     Dated : 31st August, 2026
            O R D E R:-


            1.       By this application under Section 483 of the Bharatiya Nagarik

            Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, the applicant seeks his release on regular bail

            in connection with Crime No. 203 of 2025 registered with Pimpalner

            Police Station, District Dhule for the offences punishable under Sections

            103, 115(2), 352 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. The applicant

            is in custody since 27 August 2025.


            2.       The prosecution case, stated briefly, is that the deceased

            Surekhabai was the wife of the applicant. The first informant Subhash

            is their son. According to the prosecution, on the night of 25 August

            2025, a quarrel took place between the applicant and the deceased.

            The applicant was allegedly suspecting the character of the deceased

            and was abusing and quarreling with her. The material collected during

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investigation indicates that the father of the deceased had attempted to

intervene in the quarrel. Thereafter, when he returned to the place, he

noticed the deceased lying on the ground with injuries and blood

around her, while the applicant was present there. The prosecution

further relies upon the statement of the first informant according to

whom, when he questioned the applicant about the occurrence, the

applicant stated that during the quarrel he became angry and assaulted

the deceased on her head with an axe, whereupon she fell down and

did not thereafter respond. An axe having blood stains was found at the

scene and the clothes of the applicant were also seized with blood

stains.


3.        Learned counsel for the applicant submits that the prosecution

case rests entirely upon circumstantial evidence and there is no

eyewitness to the actual assault. Considerable emphasis is placed upon

what is described as inconsistency regarding the time of occurrence. It

is submitted that, while one version refers to the quarrel having taken

place during the night, another statement appears to refer to the

deceased having been found in the morning. It is further submitted that

the medical evidence does not support the prosecution case. The

postmortem report records the cause of death as cardio-respiratory

failure due to haemothorax consequent upon fracture of the ribs.

According to the applicant, the accusation is of an assault with an axe

upon the head, whereas the skull was found intact and there is no

material showing that the applicant caused the fractures of the fourth


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and fifth ribs. The alleged extra-judicial confession is also sought to be

questioned. It is therefore submitted that the circumstances relied upon

by the prosecution do not form a complete chain and that the applicant

deserves to be released on bail.


4.       Learned APP opposes the application. It is submitted that the

material cannot be examined in isolation. The deceased and the

applicant were husband and wife and were together immediately

preceding the occurrence. There is material regarding the quarrel

between them. The father of the deceased found her lying injured

shortly thereafter and noticed the applicant present at the place. The

first informant speaks of an admission made by the applicant regarding

the assault. The prosecution also relies upon the blood-stained axe

found at the scene and the blood stains on the clothes of the applicant.

It is submitted that the medical evidence does not render the

prosecution case improbable; on the contrary, the postmortem

demonstrates serious ante-mortem injuries to the chest, fractures of the

ribs, haemorrhage and haemothorax which resulted in death. At the

stage of bail, the discrepancies sought to be highlighted by the defence

are matters for appreciation during trial.


5.       I have considered the rival submissions and perused the

material placed before the Court. The accusation is undoubtedly

serious. It is equally true that the case is substantially founded upon

circumstances and there is no eyewitness claiming to have actually seen

the fatal assault. That by itself, however, cannot justify release on bail.

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At this stage the Court is required to ascertain whether the material,

viewed cumulatively and without undertaking a meticulous evaluation

of its ultimate evidentiary worth, discloses a substantial prima facie

case.


6.       The circumstances appearing from the prosecution material

cannot presently be regarded as insignificant. There is material

indicating a quarrel between the applicant and his wife shortly before

she was found lying seriously injured. The statement of the father of

the deceased places the applicant at the scene when the deceased was

found lying on the ground with a bleeding injury. More importantly, the

first informant attributes to the applicant a statement that, on account

of anger generated during the quarrel, he had assaulted the deceased

with an axe and that she thereafter fell down and did not get up.

Whether such extra-judicial admission ultimately inspires confidence

and what evidentiary weight is to be attached to it are matters which

will necessarily be tested at the trial. It cannot, however, be completely

discarded while examining whether a prima facie case exists.


7.       There are additional circumstances. The prosecution relies

upon the axe having blood stains and upon the clothes of the applicant

also having blood stains. It appears that the axe was found at the scene

and not discovered pursuant to a memorandum made by the applicant.

The circumstance must therefore be appreciated for what it is and not

elevated into a discovery under the law of evidence. Nevertheless, its

presence at the scene, coupled with the other material referred to

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above, is a circumstance forming part of the prosecution case.


8.       Much emphasis was placed upon the postmortem report. The

submission is that the death is attributed to cardio-respiratory failure

due to haemothorax consequent upon fractured ribs, whereas the

prosecution speaks principally of an axe assault on the head. At this

stage, I am unable to accept the contention that the medical evidence

ex facie dislodges the prosecution case. The postmortem notes

lacerated wounds in the right supra-orbital region, contusions on the

chest and shoulder, subcutaneous haemorrhage corresponding to the

external chest injuries, fractures of the fourth and fifth ribs with blood

clots and haemorrhage, injury to the pleura, blood in the pleural cavity

and contusion of the left lung. The final cause of death therefore has to

be read together with the entirety of the injuries and not merely by

isolating the injuries to the head. Whether every injury is attributable to

a particular assault, the precise manner in which the rib fractures were

caused, and whether the ocular or circumstantial version is completely

compatible with the medical opinion are issues requiring evidence of

the medical expert and cannot appropriately be concluded in a bail

proceeding.


9.       The discrepancies regarding whether the quarrel commenced

during the night and the precise point of time at which the deceased

was subsequently noticed lying injured have also been pressed into

service. The statements will undoubtedly have to withstand cross-

examination. At present, however, those variations do not, in my view,

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destroy the core of the prosecution case to such an extent that the

remaining incriminating circumstances can be ignored. A bail

proceeding cannot be converted into a trial for determining which of

the versions will eventually survive cross-examination.


10.      There is one further aspect. Where the prosecution first

establishes circumstances showing that the accused and deceased were

together in a domestic setting immediately preceding an unnatural

death and places additional incriminating circumstances connecting the

accused with the occurrence, facts relating to what transpired within

that setting may assume significance under Section 109 of the

Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023. This principle does not relieve the

prosecution of its primary burden and the Court is not drawing an

inference of guilt merely from silence of the applicant. However, after

the foundational circumstances presently appearing from the record are

taken into account, absence at this stage of any circumstance

explaining the occurrence cannot be treated as a ground for discarding

the prosecution case while considering bail.


11.      The defence has invited the Court to conclude that the chain

of circumstances is incomplete. Such a conclusion at this stage would

require the Court to assess the reliability of the extra-judicial

admission, reconcile individual statements, determine the precise

mechanism producing the thoracic injuries and evaluate the forensic

material as though the evidence had already been recorded. That

exercise would travel beyond the permissible scope of the present

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           proceeding. The material presently available, when considered

           cumulatively, furnishes a substantial prima facie nexus between the

           applicant and the death of the deceased.


           12.         The applicant has undergone approximately one year of

           custody. The period is relevant, but having regard to the gravity of the

           accusation, the nature of the prima facie material and the stage of the

           proceedings, it is not yet of such duration as would outweigh the other

           considerations    governing   bail.   Nothing   presently   indicates     an

           inordinate or constitutionally impermissible delay in the trial.


           13.         In the circumstances, I am not persuaded to exercise the

           discretion in favour of the applicant. The Bail Application is accordingly

           rejected.


           14.         The observations made above are confined strictly to

           consideration of the present bail application. The learned trial Judge

           shall decide the case solely upon the evidence recorded at the trial and

           shall not be influenced by any prima facie observation contained in this

           order.




                                                      ( HITEN S. VENEGAVKAR, J.)
JPChavan




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