The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Wednesday granted bail to a Bangladeshi woman accused of fraud who had been allegedly been living in India without documents.

The court noted that since the woman, Farida Praveen alias Shikha Gaur, might not be an Indian citizen, she may not be able to arrange for bail sureties. It said that the woman cannot be kept in jail “for an indefinite period” if she is unable to furnish a bail bond.

Justice Anoop Chitkara directed that if the woman fails to furnish sureties within seven days of the order, she can be released on a personal bond or a fixed deposit of Rs 10,000.

Praveen has been in custody since February 5 in a case registered under sections of the Indian Penal Code pertaining to fraud, forgery and fraudulent use of a forged document. She has also been booked under the Foreigners Act for entering India without valid documents.

The first information against Praveen was filed in Faridabad based on the complaint of a woman named Santosh Sharma.

Sharma alleged that Praveen induced her son into a relationship and took away cash and gold jewellery. The counsel for the Haryana government alleged that Praveen had “prepared her Aadhar Card, Voter Card and PAN card on the basis of fake documents and changed her name to Shikha Gaur”.

The prosecution claimed that during interrogation, the woman confessed her guilt and copies of her Aadhaar, passport and Bangladeshi identity card were recovered. A chargesheet has been filed against her and the case is now before the chief judicial magistrate, Faridabad.

Praveen’s lawyer NS Sodhi, on the other hand, told the court that further pre-trial incarceration of the woman would amount to “irreversible injustice” for her and her family.

In his judgement, Chitkara referred to a Supreme Court verdict from 2013 that held that the word “person” in Article 21 of the Constitution is wide enough to cover not just citizens, but also foreigners.

The High Court noted that Praveen had spent six-and-a-half months in custody. “Given the penal provisions invoked vis-à-vis pre-trial custody, coupled with the prima facie analysis of the nature of allegations and the other factors peculiar to this case, there would be no justification for further pre-trial incarceration at this stage,” the court said.

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