Shijam vs State Of Kerala

Bechu Kurian Thomas, J

This is an application for regular bail under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

Petitioner is the sole accused in Crime No.2297 of 2021 of Nemom, Police Station, Thiruvananthapuram District. The offences alleged against the petitioner are under Section 354 (A) (1) (I), 506 r/w 34 of the Indian Penal Code and under Section 8 r/w Sections 7,10 r/w 9 (1) (m), 17 r/w 16 (I) 19 r/w 21(1) of the POCSO Act.

The prosecution allegation is that the first accused, who is aged 42, committed sexual assault against a minor girl aged 9 years. The 2nd accused arrayed in the FIR was the mother of the victim and was subsequently deleted from the party array.

Learned Counsel for the petitioner Sri.J.R.Prem Navaz submitted that the allegations are falsely foisted against the petitioner because of the matrimonial dispute between the mother of the victim and her father. He referred to the order issued by the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court, Thiruvananthapuram in exercise of the powers under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 and the date of FIR, and submitted that a comparison of the dates would would prove the falsity of the prosecution story.

Smt.M.K.Pushpalatha, learned Public Prosecutor on instructions submitted that petitioner was arrested on 13.04.2022 and has been in custody since then and that the mother of the victim was subsequently deleted from the party array.

On an appreciation of the contentions raised by both sides and on a comparison of the date of FIR with the date of order in MC No.46/2021 before the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court, I am of the view that the continued incarceration of the petitioner is not warranted. Accordingly, this bail application is allowed and petitioner is liable to be enlarged on bail on the following conditions:

i) Petitioner shall execute a bond for Rs.50,000/- (Rupees Fifty Thousand only) with two solvent sureties for the like sum to the satisfaction of the Investigating Officer.

ii) Petitioner shall not intimidate the victim involved in the crime nor shall he attempt to contact or interact in any way communicate with the victim or her family members.

iii) Petitioner shall not enter the limits of the Nemom Police Station within which the victim resides, until the final report is filed.

iv) Petitioner shall co-operate with the investigation and shall appear before the Investigating Officer as and when required.

vi) If any of the above conditions are violated by the petitioner, the jurisdictional court can cancel the bail, in accordance with law, even though the bail is granted by this Court.

The Bail Application is allowed as above.