Supreme Court: The bench of BR Gavai and Vikram Nath, JJ has granted regular bail to a man accused under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, for kidnapping and raping a minor girl aged 16.
In the case at hand, the FIR against the accused alleged that the minor girl was kidnapped from her parental house at night by the accused and two others and rape was committed repeatedly on her. The accused was 20 years old at the time of the incident. It is alleged that he, along with three other co-accused persons was involved in committing rape upon the daughter of the complainant after abducting her from her home during midnight. The accused has been in incarceration for a period of over 2 years.
The accused’s lawyer argued that the allegations are completely frivolous and vague and it appears that the entire FIR has been written in an afterthought manner as if the father of the alleged victim was present there, in order to to falsely implicate the petitioner and his friend, who happens to be cousin of the alleged victim and there is property dispute between the family. Also, on account of previous enmity between the parties over land dispute, other cases are also pending before various courts.
It is his case that he and the victim were in a relationship and when the victim’s family came to know about it, they fabricated the entire case. He also argued that as per the medical reports of the alleged victim, nothing could be revealed to show the involvement of the accused in commission of the alleged offence as mentioned in the FIR, nor any injuries were found on the body of the alleged victim which could reveal use of force or vigor upon her.
It was also highlighted that the three other co-accused, besides the accused in question, were named in the FIR but none of them have been charge sheeted.
It is important to note that the Rajasthan High Court had denied bail to the accused on three occasions. The Supreme Court, however, accepted the plea of the accused and observed,
“Taking into consideration the nature of allegations and further that the charge sheet is filed and the trial has commenced and the petitioner is behind the bars for almost two and a half years, we are inclined to allow the prayer for bail.”
The Court, hence, directed the accused to be released on bail.
[Ankit v. State of Rajasthan, Special Leave to Appeal (Crl.) No(s). 3931/2022, order dated 15.12.2022]
For Petitioner(s): Namit Saxena, AOR
For Respondent(s): Sandeep Kumar Jha, AOR
