The Bombay High Court has refused bail to an advocate who is accused of wrongfully claiming to have secured bail for a client’s husband and then forged a sessions court order. The HC said the offence is “fundamentally detrimental to the entire legal system” and corrodes the faith which the public has in the entire system.
Advocate Hiral Jadhav had sought pre-arrest bail in a case filed against her by the Dahisar police, who said that she was hired by the complainant to secure bail for her husband in a murder case and was paid ₹65,000 in August 2022. On October 28, 2022, Jadhav informed the complainant that she had secured bail for her husband and asked for ₹25,000 as the bail amount. She then handed an envelope that allegedly contained a receipt and the bail order, and asked her to deposit it with the prison authorities.
Even after the complainant deposited the amount with the prison authorities, her husband was not released. This process was repeated twice, yet the man remained incarcerated. Jadhav explained to the complainant that the jail had made an error.
Complainant checks e-portal
The complainant grew suspicious and checked the e-portal and learnt that there was no order granting bail to her husband. In fact, his bail plea was rejected. She then filed an FIR.
Jadhav approached the HC seeking pre-arrest bail, contending that the purported bail order was not acted upon. Also, there was neither any wrongful gain to anyone nor any wrongful loss to another. Hence, it cannot be said that Jadhav had acted dishonestly, argued her lawyer Shailesh Kharat.
State advocate Sharmila Kaushik opposed the plea saying that Jadhav had forged the order of another judge from the sessions court who had not heard the bail plea.
“No leniency whatsoever can be shown to Jadhav. No words are sufficient to deprecate the practice adopted by Jadhav, being an advocate having relationship with the litigant based on trust… Her custodial interrogation is necessary to find out her accomplices. The manner in which the offence is committed with confidence shows there is a strong possibility that this may not be an isolated instance,” the order read.
