Kerala High Court: Raja Vijajayaraghavan, J. rejected an application for pre-arrest bail on the ground that victim was a minor girl.
An application was filed under Section 438 CrPC for the offence punishable under Section 363 read with Section 34 of the Penal Code, Sections 7 and 8 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, and under Section 77 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) of Children Act, 2015.
The facts of the case were that the victim, the minor girl was called by the applicant to meet him as he had infatuation towards her and wanted to hug her. The victim reached the decided place in a car which belonged to the accused as stated by him. Thereafter they sat and had a conversation for some time. The applicant was alleged to offer a joint and they both smoked. Later, he was alleged to have sexually abused her.
Biju Antony, K.P. Prasanth, Shafin Ahammed, Hijas T.T., Archana Suresh, T.S. Krishendu, Vishnu Dileep counsels for the applicant submitted that numerous crimes were registered at the instance of the minor girl and this was also one such case. It was also submitted that investigation was almost complete and the custodial interrogation of the applicant was unwarranted.
Ramesh Chand, Public Prosecutor, strenuously opposed the prayer and submitted that the main allegation was that of sexual assault against the minor girl and thus the court will not be justified in arming the applicant with the order of pre-arrest bail.
The Court after perusing the material made available held that this was a prima facie case where a victim is a minor girl and thus held that “having regard to the nature and gravity of the allegations, the role assigned to the applicant, the age of the victim, the materials in support thereof and attendant facts, it does not appear to be a case in which this Court will be justified in granting the applicant an order of pre-arrest bail.”[Visobh K.V. v. State of Kerala, 2019 SCC OnLine Ker 1633, decided on 27-05-2019]
