The Karnataka High Court has set aside a remand order and directed the release of a man who was booked for kidnapping his wife after noting that the woman was beyond 18 years of age and had married the accused. The High Court further held that the offences being bailable, a remand to judicial custody could not have passed by the concerned Court.

The High Court was considering the petition filed by the petitioners, calling in question an order passed in a case registered under Sections 115(2), 137(2), 351(2), 3(5) and 329(4) of the BNSS.

The Single Bench of Justice M. Nagaprasanna held, “In that light, the petitioners are entitled the benefit being set at liberty in the teeth of the aforesaid offences which were all bailable. Since the offences were bailable, there could not have been order of remand to judicial custody of the petitioners.”

Advocate Hemantha B. represented the Petitioner, while Additional Special Public Prosecutor B.N. Jagadeesha represented the Respondent.

Factual Background

The complainant alleged that her daughter, who is the wife of the first petitioner, had been kidnapped by him, and the crime was registered for the aforesaid offences.

Arguments

It was the case of the petitioner that the daughter of the complainant and petitioner are married and, of her own volition, the complainant’s daughter had walked into the house of the petitioner.

Reasoning

The Bench took note of the admitted fact that the daughter of the complainant is beyond 18 years and has married the first accused. “In that light, the offence of Section 363 of the IPC is wrongly laid against the petitioners. If the said offence is wrongly laid, bail ought to have been granted in the aforesaid offence and not remand the petitioners to judicial custody”, it stated.

The Bench held that there was an apparent error and in the light of offences being bailable, a remand to judicial custody could not have passed by the concerned Court.

Allowing the petition, the Bench set aside the impugned order. “The petitioners shall be set at liberty in accordance with law”, it ordered.

Cause Title: Murali B.N. v. State of Karnataka (Neutral Citation: 2026:KHC:11283)

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Karnataka High CourtJustice M Nagaprasanna

Tulip Kanth

Assistant Editor

Tulip Kanth is an Assistant Editor at Verdictum having over 5 years of experience in the field of legal journalism and editing. She extensively covers judgments of the Supreme Court, High Courts as well as Tribunals. She has previously worked with a legal publishing website where she oversaw the work of other editors and has also created updates on notifications of different Government Ministries. She holds an English Honours Degree from SGTB Khalsa College, Delhi University and has completed her LLB course with specialisation in Corporate Law from Amity University.