Rape case: SC dismisses pleas against HC order giving bail to former Andaman chief secretary
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed pleas challenging the bail given to former Andaman and Nicobar Islands chief secretary Jitendra Narain in a rape case.
Narain was granted bail by the Port Blair circuit bench of the Calcutta High Court on February 20.
The apex court delivered its verdict on the appeals filed by the state and the complainant woman against the bail granted by the high court.
"We have dismissed all the petitions," said a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and A Amanullah.
The top court said it has also directed the trial court to expedite the trial, in which all cooperation will be extended by the respective parties.
The woman has alleged that she was raped by Narain and others after being lured to the then chief secretary's residence with the promise of a government job.
On August 1, the apex court reserved its verdict on the pleas challenging Narain's bail in the case filed by the 21-year-old woman.
Narain was arrested on November 10 last year after an FIR was registered on October 1, 2022 when he was posted as chairman and managing director of the Delhi Financial Corporation. The government suspended him on October 17 last year.
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Two arrested in K'taka for assaulting minors, uploading CSAM content
Bengaluru (PTI): Two men were arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting two minor girls, recording the acts on mobile phones and uploading the videos online as child sexual abuse material, police said on Thursday.
The accused have been identified as Kiran Kumar (29), hailing from Chitradurga district, and Aditya M K (20), hailing from Shivamogga district, they said.
A probe was initiated after information was received from the NCRP portal regarding a suspected instance of creation of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) for online dissemination, police said.
Accordingly, a case was registered at Kaggalipura Police Station under relevant sections of the IT Act on May 10, they added.
Investigation revealed that two minor girl victims were exploited and videos were created and uploaded to the internet. The child victims have subsequently recorded their statements as per procedure and further necessary legal steps have been taken, Pronab Mohanty Director General of Police, Cyber Command, said in a statement.
Based on the statements of the victims, the accused persons, who allegedly assaulted the minors, recorded the acts on mobile phones and uploaded the videos online, were arrested, he said.
Following the probe, sections 65(2) (rape) and 70 (gangrape) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with relevant sections of the POCSO Act, have been added to the FIR, police said.
Officials collected relevant information and on May 12, arrested the accused persons and seized three mobile phones belonging to them, in which the videos had allegedly been recorded, he said.
The accused were later produced before the court and taken into police custody for further investigation, he added.
According to him, in CSAM cases, police usually apprehend offenders who have downloaded such content or have kept them in their possession after obtaining them from elsewhere, usually the internet.
"The present case is one of the very few instances where content creators and uploaders have been apprehended," Mohanty added.
