The Bombay High Court has rejected a bail application filed by a man accused of raping his minor neighbour and then trying to dispose of the prematurely born foetus after the girl suffered miscarriage. He had approached the HC after the trial court rejected his bail plea twice.
Details of case
The accused sought bail on two grounds. First, he claimed that he did not rape the girl as he was in love with her who was over 17-year-old at the time. Second, he said that he has been behind the bars since his arrest in August 2019.
Rejecting the bail, the HC observed that if there was real love, the man would not have attempted to destroy his own baby. “Since the victim was below 18 years, he has been rightly prosecuted under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences,” Justice Prithviraj K Chavan said on March 13.
In August 2019, the police received information that a person was trying to dispose of a premature foetus. By the time cops arrived, locals had started assaulting the accused. In custody, the man revealed that he gave the victim certain pills to cause a miscarriage. He was caught red-handed by the police, while trying to dispose of the premature foetus, said the prosecution.
Refusing to grant relief to the accused, the HC said, "The victim's statement also reveals that the applicant committed forcible sexual intercourse resulting in pregnancy and then forced her to consume the pills resulting in the abortion. Looking at the seriousness of the offence as well as possibility of influencing the witnesses and tampering with the evidence, this is not a fit case for releasing the applicant on bail."
