SC sets aside HC order granting bail to police officer accused of raping minor
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court has set aside the Allahabad High Court order granting bail to a police officer accused of raping a 13-year-old girl who was brought to a police station in Uttar Pradesh for registering a complaint of alleged sexual assault on her by four persons.
The apex court said that there is no reason to justify the grant of bail to the accused who was the Station House Officer (SHO) and allegedly grossly abused his office to commit "same heinous crime" of raping the minor victim.
A bench of justices A S Bopanna and Sanjay Kumar delivered the order on a plea filed by the victim's mother challenging the March 2 last year order of the high court.
"In the present case, the situation is far worse as respondent no.1, being the station house officer of the police station, where the minor victim girl was brought for securing her justice, is alleged to have resorted to committing the same heinous crime of raping her," the bench said in its order passed on Friday.
"In this situation, his prayer for grant of bail required more than the cursory appraisal that was bestowed by the high court. We do not find any reasons worth the name justifying the grant of bail to respondent no.1 at this stage," it said.
It allowed the appeal filed by the victim's mother and set aside the high court order.
The bench directed that the accused shall surrender forthwith, failing which the state shall take necessary steps to apprehend him and send him to judicial custody.
Senior advocate H S Phoolka appeared for the victim's mother in the case.
She had approached the apex court against the high court order granting bail to the accused in an FIR lodged for alleged offences under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including that of rape, and under the provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
In its order, the top court noted that according to the prosecution, the minor girl was placed in the custody of the SHO on April 27, 2022 in connection with registering a complaint against four men, who were alleged to have sexually assaulted her.
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Police arrested Kejriwal's aide at same time his anticipatory bail plea was being heard: Atishi
New Delhi (PTI): Delhi Minister Atishi alleged on Saturday that the city police arrested Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's aide Bibhav Kumar at the same time his anticipatory bail plea was being heard in court.
Kumar was arrested on Saturday in connection with the alleged assault on AAP Rajya Sabha member Swati Maliwal, officials said.
He was picked up from the chief minister's residence by a Delhi Police team around noon, a senior officer said.
Addressing a press conference, Atishi said Kumar had filed a plea for anticipatory bail before the Tis Hazari court.
Kumar was picked up for questioning by the Delhi Police around 11 am. As soon as he was taken for questioning, news channels started saying he had been arrested, she claimed.
"This shows the BJP's conspiracy. Their intention is to disturb our election campaign and Arvind Kejriwal," she said.
Atishi said the Tis Hazari court considered Kumar's matter urgent and agreed to hear his plea on Saturday itself.
"The court commenced hearing on his plea at 3:55 pm and within 20 minutes, the Delhi Police arrested him at the Civil Lines police station. As soon as his lawyers began arguments, the police learnt that their case is weak and Kumar would get relief. So they arrested Kumar," she claimed.
Atishi alleged that when the court was dictating its order on the matter at 4:55 pm, the Delhi Police lawyer appeared through videoconferencing and said Kumar had already been arrested.
Kumar's anticipatory bail plea has become "infructuous" as he has been arrested, the court observed.
The chief minister's aide, accused of assaulting Maliwal on May 13 at Kejriwal's residence, was arrested two days after an FIR was registered against him at the Civil Lines police station.
Additional Sessions Judge Sushil Anuj Tyagi, while dictating the order to the court staff on the anticipatory bail plea, noted that Additional Public Prosecutor Atul Kumar Srivastava appeared through videoconferencing around 4:45 pm and informed the court that Kumar had already been arrested.
Atishi said, "Even they knew that their case was weak and if the case was heard, Bibhav Kumar would get bail. That is why tomorrow (Sunday) Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will lead all AAP leaders and to the BJP headquarters and court arrest."
Kejriwal said he and other AAP leaders would go to the BJP headquarters on Sunday "so that the prime minister can send anyone he wants to jail".
The BJP is saying they would send AAP MP Raghav Chadha and Delhi ministers Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj to jail, he claimed at a press briefing, hours after Kumar was arrested.
