News East-West
MUMBAI: Suraj Pancholi, who was arrested almost a week after the suicide by actress Jiah Khan on June 2, was on Monday granted bail.
In releasing him on a bail surety of Rs 50,000, Judge Sadhna Jadhav of the Mumbai High Court said, “No doubt that it was an unfortunate incident that a young girl has committed suicide. She (Jiah) must have been impulsive and he (Suraj) cannot be held solely responsible for it.”
Suraj, 22, has been ordered to surrender his passport and appear at the Juhu police station every second day.
The 25-year-old actress committed suicide after her troubled relationship with the son of actor Aditya Pancholi.
Since Suraj was arrested on June 10 after a six-page note written by Jiah Khan was recovered by her family, the judge made observations about it while granting him bail.
Since she wrote the note before committing suicide and Suraj never received this note from Jiah Khan, the judge said, “Therefore it cannot be said that the emotions expressed in the letter ever reached the applicant (Suraj).’’
The judge also said, “The question is if the script recovered from the deceased’s house is addressed to the applicant (Suraj) or is it just extracts from her diary? Whether it can be called suicide note at all? When there is no date on it, can it be linked to the day she committed suicide? ”
The court said Suraj didn’t push her to take this extreme step, and observed, “She was in the relationship on her own volition. It all depends on the psyche of the person. It cannot be ignored that Jiah had suicidal tendencies. Earlier also she had attempted suicide and it was the applicant who took care of her.’’
In his bail application, Suraj had said that his relationship with Jiah Khan was consensual and that her mother Rabiya Khan was now misusing Jiah’s six-page note against him.
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