The Delhi High court has granted bail to a man accused of raping a two-year-old girl in the city citing delay of 8-hour in the registration of FIR.
The accused was booked under Section 376 AB (rape on a woman below 12 years of age) of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 6 (aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
“In view of the… fact that the prosecutrix being 2 1⁄2 years old, due to which her statement was not recorded, however, without commenting on the merits of the prosecution case and keeping in view the fact that there is a delay of 8 hours in registration of FIR, I am of the view that the petitioner deserves bail,” a report in Indian Express quoted observation made by Justice Suresh Kumar Kait.
The complainant stated in the FIR that he saw the accused in an inebriated condition and allegedly heard him forcing the victim to perform oral sex.
The FIR was filed at the South Delhi district police station last year.
The complainant also stated that he also saw the pant of the accused unzipped when he was with the minor girl
The Delhi Police opposed the bail plea and said the neighbours saw the accused and beat him up and handed him over to the police.
However, the defence argued that there were many contradictions in the case and that the medical report of the accused showed he was not intoxicated.
The counsel of the accused also told the court that there were no abrasions on his body as was claimed that he was beaten up by the neighbours.
The lawyer also said that the CCTV footage produced by the complainant was not verified by the police and doesn’t have any evidentiary value.
Input feed : Syndicate Agency
