Mumbai: Considering the gravity of the offence, a sessions court has rejected the bail application of suspended assistant police inspector Sunil Khatpe in custody on charges of raping a 29-year-old model in 2015 in a police chowky.
Mr Khatpe had claimed bail as he had spent 7.5 years in prison after his arrest in April 2015, thereby making it more than half the sentence of 10 years he would serve, if convicted. He had also claimed parity with a co-accused who was granted bail by the Bombay High Court (HC).
Court says, 'he is not entitled to parity'
The court said in its order of last Wednesday, that considering his role, he is not entitled to parity though he has been in custody since 2015. The prosecution had opposed relief to him and expressed the fear that he may use his position to tamper with witnesses in the ongoing trial where 14 witnesses have been examined. Additional Sessions Judge MM Deshpande took this apprehension into consideration too.
Differentiating the 39-year-old’s role from that of other accused, the court said his distinct role is that he is the prime accused involved in the offence of extortion as well as rape by misuse of authority as a police officer while the victim was in his custody. It said this enhances the gravity of his offence. It noted that the chargesheet reveals that he is the only accused, of the nine, who had sexually assaulted the victim by taking her to Sangharsh Nagar police chowky. It said this indicates that being a police officer, he separated the victim from her colleague when she was taken to the police station. The court emphasised that he had done so being a male officer. “As such, it is all a clear case of misuse of position and dominance under the pretext of his authority over the victim,” Judge Deshpande stated.
The incident had taken place on April 3, 2015, when policemen from Sakinaka police station had entered a hotel and picked up the victim with her colleague. The complaint stated that the police insisted that she accept she was forced into prostitution and had also extorted her and her colleague of cash and other belongings. Thereafter, Khatpe had taken her to the police chowky where he had sexually assaulted her. The duo were allowed to leave the following morning.
