Granting bail to a 21-year-old booked for the offences of kidnapping and sexual assault, a special court on Tuesday said that the 16-year-old girl had herself left the house and refused to return home and that the youth has no role in her kidnapping.
Special judge under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) Priti Kumar Ghule said in her order that it is the girl who is not listening to her parents and that she does not find it fit to keep the applicant in jail.
The complaint had been registered against the youth for the offences under the IPC of assaulting or using criminal force with intent to outrage modesty, kidnapping and under the POCSO Act for sexual assault.
The Kherwadi police had informed the court while opposing his bail application that the 16-year-old girl had left her home on December 25, last year under the pretext of attending a birthday party and thereafter had not returned. She had gone even when her father had denied permission for the same.
The court said that from the response filed by the police it is clear that the youth is her friend. She refused to return home and asked him to leave her at her cousin sister’s house, it added. “It is clear that she herself left the house and refused to return home. The applicant has no role in kidnapping,” Judge Ghule said.
The complaint also alleged that the youth had kissed her on the cheek. The court said that she herself goes to meet the applicant and does not want to go back to her parents. It added that she is of an understanding age and in adolescence and passed the order granting him bail.
