HC grants bail to youth booked for raping minor cousin sister

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The Bombay High Court recently granted bail to a youth booked for sexually assaulting his minor cousin sister and observed that the DNA test done on the child born to the minor ruled out the possibility of him being the biological father of the child. The court, therefore, found it as a fit case to grant relief.

The accused, who moved the bail application, had claimed that he was also a minor of 16 years and four months of age when the alleged incident took place in 2016 and was in custody since his arrest in June 2021, before which he was shown as ‘absconding’ for five years. The girl was of 16 years and 9 months of age at the time of the alleged incident.

The applicant’s lawyer argued that as the charges are yet to be framed against him and the trial is unlikely to conclude in near future, he should be released on bail, which the court accepted.

A single-judge bench of Justice Anuja Prabhudessai on August 10 passed an order in a bail plea by the youth facing trial in the case under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act filed in 2016 by Mumbai Police. He was booked for offences of rape and criminal intimidation of the IPC along with relevant provisions of POCSO Act.

Advocates Sana Raees Khan, Aditya Parmar and Aniket Pardeshi for the applicant submitted that there was a delay of two months in filing the complaint and the victim had not mentioned the exact date of incident. Khan submitted that the applicant himself was minor at the time of incident and the benefit of provision of bail for juveniles under the Juvenile Justice Act should be made available to the applicant.

The bench prima facie noted that as per records, the victim, who is a child as per POCSO Act, was pregnant and she has delivered a child. She alleged that the applicant had sexually abused her. The applicant’s blood sample as well as the child’s blood sample were taken for DNA analysis.

“The DNA report reveals that the applicant herein is excluded to be the biological father of the child. The records further reveal that the applicant himself is a young boy. He has been in custody since June 12, 2021. It is stated that the charge is not yet framed,” the bench noted.