New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday set aside the bail granted to Sonam Raghuvanshi, the prime accused in the murder case of her husband Raja Raghuvanshi at their honeymoon in Meghalaya in May 2025, and asked her to surrender in 3 weeks.
A bench comprising Justice M.M. Sundresh and Justice P.B. Varale allowed the Meghalaya government’s challenge to a Shillong court’s April 2026 order granting her bail on the ground that the reason for the arrest was not effectively communicated to her—a mandate under procedural law.
The couple from Madhya Pradesh’s Indore were in Meghalaya for their honeymoon in May 2025. On 26 May 2025, the couple were reported missing. On 2 June, Raja’s decomposed body was found in a deep gorge near Wei Sawdong Falls in Meghalaya’s Sohra.
Raja’s brother Vipin Raghuvanshi lodged an FIR at the Sohra police station. Sonam Raghuvanshi was arrested in Ghazipur on 9 June 2025. Investigators subsequently alleged that she had conspired with three other men to kill Raja.
This was a premeditated conspiracy by her, carried out in collaboration with the three others, the police alleged in its chargesheet. She has denied all the allegations.
Dictating the oral order, Justice Sundresh said, “On facts, we find that the respondent (Sonam Raghuvanshi) is not entitled to bail. It is not as if the respondent was not served with the grounds of arrest.
“There is a difference between non-service and giving adequate reasons thereunder. While the first category might vitiate the arrest, in the second, one has to see the prejudice” and that “a non-compliance of the service of grounds of arrest will not act as a fetter to re-arrest for the purpose of investigation”, the Bench said.
“There is a difference between non-service and giving adequate reasons thereunder. While the first category might vitiate the arrest, in the second, one has to see the prejudice,” the bench said, adding not sufficiently conveying the grounds of arrest does not give the accused permanent immunity, and they can be rearrested for the purpose of investigation.
The court also noted that since the trial in the case had already begun and even the charges were framed, Sonam’s enlargement on bail may affect the proceedings.
The court also recorded the prosecution’s allegation that Sonam conspired with three accomplices to murder her husband during their honeymoon in Meghalaya, dumped his body into a gorge and remained absconding thereafter.
In the last hearing on Tuesday, the bench had suggested the accused to surrender – pointing out the two legal options she had. It had said that either the SC could hear arguments on the Meghalaya government’s appeal against her bail and pass a final order or she could surrender before the authorities, allowing investigating agencies to question her while the court considers the issue of her bail.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Meghalaya government, had strongly opposed her bail as he described the error in the arrest memo – section 403 instead of 103 – as a “mere typographical mistake”.
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New generation’s ‘so-called materialism’
After dictating the order, Justice Sundresh went on to detail his opinions on the “changing society” and the present generation. SG Mehta, present there, also shared his views.
“These things are bound to happen in changing society… .the present generation may be more knowledgeable, but don’t have experience in dealing with pressure,” Justice Sundresh said, adding he also has issues and grudges with how the parents are dealing with it but “we have to change with time”.
Mehta then apprised the court of the comic reels showing that a husband goes to honeymoon with bodyguards, breaking the courtroom into laughter. He said that the trust between the husband and wife has gone down. He stressed on the two main things—degeneration of the joint family system, and the lack of tolerance in the present generation—which, according to him, are important.
Then, Justice Varale said, “Whatever is being shared on WhatsApp is being treated as knowledge.”
Justice Sundresh noted that “Modern-day generation is restless, they want a solution. They want to get married today, and tomorrow they don’t want to be together”.
“In a nuclear family, if you don’t get small things – you get agitated,” Justice Sundresh remarked, noting that in a joint family children learn from grandmothers, uncles, aunts – which is missing in the present generation.
He also cited a recent example of what he saw in a hotel lobby. He said a child was given a mobile phone “as s/he was crying”. He noted that parents being replaced by gadgets cannot be the solution, and also talked about “problems that come out of so-called materialism”.
Mehta also said that nowadays, comedians have to resort to cheap vulgar comedy and in his opinion, “if you have to resort to cheap vulgarity – it is not comedy”.
The hearing ended with Justice Sundresh expressing his hope that the “present generation will learn that happiness comes from sharing and the present generation has so called materialism”.
“There are positives and negatives in the present generation, and they get agitated easily,” he said.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)
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