The High Court of Bombay granted pre-arrest bail to a nineteen-year-old engineering student accused of aggravated penetrative sexual assault on 2 minors & bail to three co-accused, including 2 collegians aged 20 & 19.
The accused & the complainant, the girls’ mother, live in the same building. The accused alleged that the mother had belatedly filed a false FIR under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act in Oct for allegations dating to March for a “grudge” she held against them over being told to follow Coronavirus safety rules framed for tenants.
“Today, there are equal possibilities that the offence may or may not be true. This can only be established during the trial. However, if at this stage, relief is not granted to the applicants, they will suffer irreparable loss, affecting their future & career, which cannot be compensated by any means,” said Justice Sarang Kotwal, considering the delay & “background” in which the FIR was filed & the ages & student-status of the accused.
The delay in lodging the FIR assumed importance because of a previous enmity between an accused & the woman, said the judge in a common order after hearing advocate Sana Raees Khan in the pre-arrest bail plea, & advocates Ashwini Sawant for the trio seeking bail after arrest in separate pleas.
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