HC grants bail to man accused of raping girlfriend
notes minor girl capable to understand consequences of her act
Mumbai (PTI): The Bombay High Court has granted bail to a 22-year-old man, arrested last year for allegedly raping a 15-year-old girl, noting the two were in a relationship and the victim, though minor, was capable of understanding the consequences of her act.
A single bench of Justice Bharati Dangre in the order dated November 15 also noted the victim had voluntarily accompanied the accused to his aunt's place where the alleged offence took place.
"It appears that the victim, though a minor, was capable of understanding the consequences of her act and she voluntarily accompanied the applicant (accused) to his aunt's place. Though she is a minor and her consent becomes immaterial, in a case like this, where she voluntarily joined the applicant and has admitted that she was in love with the applicant, whether she consented to the sexual intercourse or not is a matter of evidence," the bench said.
It added that whether the victim girl resisted the sexual act and at what point the accused forcibly committed sexual intercourse with her against her wishes will have to be determined at the time of trial.
"The applicant is also a young boy and the possibility of him also being smitten by infatuation cannot be ruled out. At present, he need not be further incarcerated as he has been arrested in April 2021 and the trial may consume considerable time," the HC said.
The bench, while granting bail to the accused, directed him to not establish any contact with the victim and to not even enter the same area as her residence in suburban Mumbai.
A case under relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSOA) was lodged against the accused on April 29, 2021, by the victim.
As per the complaint, the accused raped her on April 6, 2021, when she had accompanied him to the residence of his aunt in a suburb of Mumbai. The victim girl said she revealed the incident to her sister on April 29 after her family caught her chatting with him on WhatsApp.
The high court also took note of this delay in lodging the complaint and said, "The victim kept quiet till her WhatsApp chat with the applicant was objected to by her family members. She continued to remain silent from April 6 and disclosed the incident only when an objection was taken by her family".
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Melinda French Gates resigns as Gates Foundation co-chair, 3 years after her divorce from Bill Gates
New York, May 13: Melinda French Gates will step down as co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the nonprofit she and her ex-husband Bill Gates founded and built into one of the world's largest philanthropic organisations over the past 20 years.
“This is not a decision I came to lightly,” French Gates posted on the X platform on Monday. “I am immensely proud of the foundation that Bill and I built together and of the extraordinary work it is doing to address inequities around the world.”
She praised the foundation's CEO, Mark Suzman, and the foundation's board of trustees, which was significantly expanded after the couple announced their divorce in May 2021.
“The time is right for me to move forward into the next chapter of my philanthropy,” French Gates wrote in her statement. She organises some of her investments and philanthropic gifts through her organisation, Pivotal Ventures, which is not a nonprofit.
Bill Gates thanked French Gates for her “critical” contributions to the foundations in a statement, saying, “I am sorry to see her leave, but I am sure she will have a huge impact in her future philanthropic work.”
French Gates will receive $12.5 billion as part of her agreement with Gates, which she said would commit to future work focused on women and families.
The Gates Foundation did not immediately return a request for comment about whether those assets would come from the foundation itself. In an emailed statement, the foundation said that Suzman announced the decision to employees on Monday.
“After a difficult few years watching women's rights rolled back in the US and around the world, she wants to use this next chapter to focus specifically on altering that trajectory,” Suzman said of French Gates.
Suzman said he knew many had joined the foundation in part because of their admiration for her advocacy, especially around gender equity.
“I know how beloved Melinda is here,” Suzman wrote.
The Gates Foundation holds $75.2 billion in its endowment as of December 2023, and announced in January, it planned to spend $8.6 billion through the course of its work in 2024.
The Associated Press receives financial support for news coverage in Africa from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and for news coverage of women in the workforce from Pivotal Ventures.
