Karnataka High Court

Girish Alias Sanju S/O. Sadashiv ... vs The State Of Karnataka on 2 November, 2023

Bench: Shivashankar Amarannavar

                                                   -1-
                                                         NC: 2023:KHC-D:12760
                                                          CRL.A No. 100419 of 2023




                           IN THE HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA, DHARWAD BENCH

                              DATED THIS THE 2ND DAY OF NOVEMBER, 2023

                                                 BEFORE

                       THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE SHIVASHANKAR AMARANNAVAR

                                 CRIMINAL APPEAL NO.100419 OF 2023

                      BETWEEN:

                      GIRISH @ SANJU S/O SADASHIV @ SADEPPA SAMBARIGI,
                      AGE. 28 YEARS, OCC. COOLIE, R/O. AMBEDKAR NAGAR,
                      PARISHWAD VILLAGE, TQ. KHANAPUR-591131,
                      DIST. BELAGAVI.
                                                                      ... APPELLANT
                      (BY SRI. R.H. ANGADI, ADVOCATE)

                      AND:

                      1.   THE STATE OF KARNATAKA,
                           (DANDELI RURAL POLICE STATION),
                           R/BY STATE PUBLIC PROSECUTOR,
                           HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA,
                           DHARWAD BENCH, DHARWAD-580011.

                      2.   MISS. SUREKHA BASAVARAJ NAIK,
                           AGE. 22 YEARS, OCC. NURSING STUDENT,
VIJAYALAKSHMI
                           R/O. NAVAGRAMA, GAVATHAN,
M KANKUPPI                 TQ. DANDELI-581325, DIST. UTTARA KANNADA.
Digitally signed by
                                                                   ... RESPONDENTS
VIJAYALAKSHMI
M KANKUPPI            (BY SRI. P.N. HATTI, HCGP FOR R1;
Date: 2023.11.04
11:33:36 +0530        R2 SERVED)

                            THIS CRIMINAL APPEAL IS FILED U/SEC.14A(2) OF SC/ST ACT
                      SEEKING TO SET ASIDE THE IMPUGNED ORDER REJECTING THE
                      BAIL IN SPL. CASE NO.149/2022, DATED 10.02.2023, ON THE FILE
                      OF II ADDITIONAL DISTRICT AND SESSIONS JUDGE, U.K. KARWAR
                      AND CONSEQUENTLY ENLARGE APPELLANT ON BAIL FOR THE
                      OFFENCES P/U/SEC. 323, 354,(B), 386, 419, 504, 506, 376(N) AND
                      201 OF IPC AND U/SEC. 66(E) OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ACT,
                      2000 AND U/SEC. 391)(r), 3(1)(w), 3(2)(5A) OF SC/ST PREVENTION
                      OF ATROCITIES AND ACT, 1989 AND AMENDMENT ACT, 2015 IN
                      CONNECTION WITH DANDELI RURAL POLICE STATION CRIME
                      NO.50/2022, DATED 17.10.2022, BY ALLOWING THIS APPEAL.
                          -2-
                               NC: 2023:KHC-D:12760
                                CRL.A No. 100419 of 2023




     THIS APPEAL IS COMING ON FOR ORDERS THIS DAY, THE
COURT DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING:

                     JUDGMENT

This appeal is filed by the appellant-accused

praying to set-aside the order dated 10.02.2023

passed in Spl.Case No.149/2022 by the II

Additional District and Sessions Judge, U.K.Karwar,

where under the bail application of the appellant-

accused sought in respect of Dandeli Rural P.S.

Crime No.50/2022 for the offence punishable under

Sections 323, 354(B), 386, 419, 504, 506, 376(N)

and 201 of Indian Penal Code, under Section 66(E)

of Information Technology Act, 2000 and under

Sections 3(1)(r), 3(1)(w), 3(2)(5A) of Scheduled

Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of

Atrocities) Act, 1989 came to be rejected.

    2.   Heard      learned      counsel     for        the

appellant/accused     and      learned     High    Court

Government Pleader for respondent No.1. In spite

NC: 2023:KHC-D:12760 CRL.A No. 100419 of 2023

of service of notice, respondent No.2 remained

absent and unrepresented.

3. The case of the prosecution is that

appellant-accused and complainant-victim girl

came in contact with each other through Instagram

and started loving each other. The appellant-

accused assured victim girl that he will marry her

and during video call with the complainant, he

incited her to take off her clothes and took the

screen shots of nude photos of the complainant

from his mobile. The appellant-accused took the

complainant on his bike to a resort during the

month of June-2021 and had sexual intercourse.

The appellant-accused frequently by blackmailing

the complainant took her to different resorts and

had forcible sexual intercourse with her. The

appellant-accused threatened the complainant-

victim girl to make viral her photos and videos in

social media and demanded Rs.1,00,000/-.

NC: 2023:KHC-D:12760 CRL.A No. 100419 of 2023

4. The victim girl filed complaint against the

appellant-accused. After investigation, charge-

sheet came to be filed against appellant-accused

for the offence punishable under Sections 323,

354(B), 386, 419, 504, 506, 376(N) and 201 of

Indian Penal Code, under Section 66(E) of The

Information Technology Act, 2000 and under

Sections 3(1)(r), 3(1)(w), 3(2)(5A) of The

Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes

(Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. The appellant-

accused came to be arrested on 19.10.2022 and he

is in judicial custody. The appellant-accused had

filed bail application in Spl. Case No.149/2022

seeking bail and the same came to be rejected by

impugned order dated 10.02.2023, which is

challenged in this appeal.

5. Learned counsel for the appellant-

accused would contend that the victim girl is aged

about 21 years and the alleged relationship

NC: 2023:KHC-D:12760 CRL.A No. 100419 of 2023

between appellant-accused and complainant-victim

girl is consensual. The complainant-victim girl is of

the age of understanding the consequences of her

acts. The victim girl on coming to know that this

appellant-accused is a married man, she filed a

false complaint against him. As per the medical

report, the alleged last sexual intercourse is during

the month of September-2022, but the complaint

came to be filed on 17.10.2022 and there is a

delay in filing the complaint. As the charge sheet

is filed, the appellant-accused is not required for

custodial interrogation. With these, he prayed to

allow the appeal and grant bail to the appellant-

accused.

6. Per-contra, learned HCGP would contend

that the appellant-accused threatening the victim

girl of making viral her necked photographs and

videos, has taken her to resort and had forcible

sexual intercourse on her on different dates. The

NC: 2023:KHC-D:12760 CRL.A No. 100419 of 2023

very act of appellant-accused attracts the offences

alleged against him. The victim girl is belonged to

Scheduled Tribe. The charge-sheet material shows

prima-facie case against the appellant-accused for

the offences alleged against him. If the appellant-

accused is granted anticipatory bail, there is

chance of he threatening the complainant and

other prosecution witnesses. Considering the

same, learned Sessions/Special Judge has rightly

rejected the bail application of the appellant-

accused. With these, he prays to reject the

petition.

7. Having heard the learned counsel for the

appellant and learned HCGP for respondent

No.1/State, this Court has gone through the

impugned order and charge-sheet material.

8. The complainant-victim girl is aged about

21 years and she is a nursing student. The

complainant-victim girl is of the age of

NC: 2023:KHC-D:12760 CRL.A No. 100419 of 2023

understanding the consequences of her acts. As

per the averments of complaint itself shows that

complainant-victim girl came in contact with

appellant-accused through Instagram application

and started loving him. The victim girl went along

with this appellant-accused on different dates to

different resorts and had sexual intercourse with

appellant-accused. Learned counsel for appellant-

accused submits that the alleged sexual

intercourse are consensual and have taken place

on different dates. The complainant has not made

any complaint earlier, since the allegation of

forcible sexual intercourse made in the complaint

is in the year June-2021. The medical report

revealed that there are no injuries on the body of

the complainant. On perusal of the statement of

the victim girl recorded under Section 164 of Code

of Criminal Procedure, the victim girl came to know

that this appellant-accused is a married man, it

appears that thereafter the victim girl has filed the

NC: 2023:KHC-D:12760 CRL.A No. 100419 of 2023

complaint against the appellant-accused. As the

charge-sheet is filed, the petitioner is not required

for custodial interrogation.

9. The main apprehension of the prosecution

is that, if the appellant is granted bail, he will

threaten the complainant and other prosecution

witnesses, can be met with by imposing stringent

conditions. Without considering all these aspects,

learned Sessions/Special Judge has rejected the

bail application, which requires interference by this

Court. The appellant-accused has made out

sufficient grounds for setting aside the impugned

order and grant bail to the appellant-accused.

Hence, I proceed to pass the following:

ORDER

The appeal is allowed.

The impugned order dated 10.02.2023 passed

in Spl. Case No.149/2022 by the learned II

Additional District and Sessions Judge, Uttara

NC: 2023:KHC-D:12760 CRL.A No. 100419 of 2023

Kannada, Karwar, is set aside. The bail application

filed by the appellant-accused under Section 439

of Cr.P.C is allowed. Consequently, the

appellant/accused is ordered to be released on bail

in Dandeli Rural Police Station Crime No.50/2022,

subject to the following conditions:

i) The appellant-accused shall execute a personal bond for a sum of Rs.1,00,000/- with one surety for the likesum to the satisfaction of jurisdictional Court.

ii) The appellant-accused shall not threatened the complainant-victim girl and other prosecution witnesses.

iii) The appellant shall appear before the jurisdictional Court on all the dates of hearing, unless exempted, and co- operate in speedy disposal of the case.