SC cancels bail granted to two men by Allahabad HC in minor's gangrape case
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court has set aside the Allahabad High Court order granting bail to two persons, accused of kidnapping and gangraping a 14 year-old minor, and expressed displeasure for not making the survivor a party during the bail plea hearing.
A bench comprising Justices Bela M Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma asked the accused – Khargesh alias Golu and Karan – to surrender before the trial court on or before December 30.
The bench in the process allowed the survivor's plea, filed through advocate Pranav Sachdeva, seeking cancellation of the bail granted by the Allahabad High Court.
Taking a strong exception to the fact that neither the accused nor the public prosecutor nor the Allahabad HC informed the minor survivor about the bail hearing, the bench said, "In the instant case, there is gross violation of the said statutory provisions contained in Section 439(1A) of CrPC and Section 15A(3) of the SC/ST Act, at the instance of the respondents."
The high court in the impugned order also did not consider the mandatory requirement of both the Acts and granted bail to the respondents in a very casual and cursory manner, without assigning any cogent reasons, though they were prima facie involved in a very serious offence, noted the bench's order on December 13.
The apex court held the bail orders were in "utter disregard" of the mandatory provisions of Code of Criminal Procedure and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act while setting them aside.
"It appears that the respondents concerned -- accused had not impleaded the present appellant as the party respondent in the bail proceedings filed by them before the high court, and the public prosecutor concerned also had not informed the appellant victim about the said proceedings,” it said.
Referring to the legal provisions, the bench said the presence of the survivor or any person authorised by him or her was obligatory at the time of hearing of the application for bail to the person in cases related to rape and gangrape.
"Similarly, it is also mandatory on the part of the special public prosecutor of the state government to inform the victim about the court proceedings, including bail proceedings as contemplated in sub-section (3) of Section 15A of the SC/ST Act,” the bench said.
According to the plea, the minor had known the accused persons, who were her neighbours, for a long time and on July 27, 2021, one of them, Karan, forced her to meet near a temple on the pretext of going to a park.
Three other accused persons later came in a car and took her to a flat, where they took turns to rape her and "brutally assaulted" her when she tried to raise an alarm, the plea said.
The trial court, on September 13, 2021, dismissed the bail plea of one of the accused on the ground that the survivor's supported the case in her statement.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Rupee gains 12 paise to 90.66 against US dollar in early trade
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee recovered from a low level and traded with a gain of 12 paise at 90.66 against the US dollar in early deals on Monday, tracking a retreating greenback against major overseas rivals.
However, persistent outflow of foreign funds from domestic equity markets and higher crude oil prices overseas amid a volatile geopolitical situation kept investors cautious, forex analysts said.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 90.68 and gained further to trade at 90.66 against the greenback, registering a gain of 12 paise from its previous closing level.
The rupee crashed 44 paise to settle near its lowest level at 90.78 against the US dollar on Friday, after losing 17 paise in the preceding two sessions.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which measures the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.21 per cent lower at 98.99.
Analysts said that the domestic currency found support amid a sell-off in dollar after US President Donald Trump announced imposing tariffs on European countries if they resist his plan to buy Greenland.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading 0.17 per cent higher at USD 64.24 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, the Sensex declined 482.80 points or 0.58 per cent to 83,087.55, while the Nifty fell 129.30 points or 0.50 per cent to 25,565.05.
Foreign institutional investors offloaded equities worth Rs 4,346.13 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.
