Surat: A 50-year-old woman, the proprietor of a business, has been granted anticipatory bail in a case for alleged criminal breach of trust — relating to defaulting on payment for goods — as her husband was running the business. The Gujarat high court granted anticipatory bail to the woman, observing that she cannot be sent to jail merely because she was the proprietor of the firm when the business was actually managed by her husband.According to the case details, a textile businessman and his wife, residents of Yogi Chowk in Varachha, were booked by Mahidharpura police in Dec 2025 after allegedly taking delivery of textile goods worth Rs 57 lakh and failing to make payment. The accused were booked under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Sections 316(5) (criminal breach of trust) and 61(2) (criminal conspiracy).It was submitted before the court that although the woman was shown as the proprietor, the management and commercial dealings were handled by her husband. Seeking protection from arrest, she moved the Gujarat high court through advocates Ashwin Jogadiya and Raajen Jadhav.The defence argued that the applicant had no active role in the business in question and was only the nominal proprietor. It was further contended that a person cannot be jailed solely on the ground of being listed as proprietor when the actual business operations were being conducted by another.Accepting this argument, the HC granted anticipatory bail to the woman subject to certain conditions. The order granted relief to the applicant while proceedings against the accused will continue in accordance with law.“The accused husband, who was handling the business, has already been arrested and has been in jail for about 60 days. As the woman was not involved in day-to-day operations, we approached the court and our arguments were considered while ordering anticipatory bail,” Jogadiya said.
