Samson John vs State Of Kerala

Bechu Kurian Thomas, J

These are applications for regular bail under Section 439 of Cr.P.C.

Petitioner in BA No. 4356/2022 is the first accused while petitioner in BA No. 4316/2022 is the second accused in Crime No. 524 of 2022 of Palluruthy Police Station, Ernakulam. The offences alleged against them are under Sections 354A(1)(i), 354A(2), 376(2)(n), 376(3) and 506 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 4(2) r/w Section 3(a), Section 6 r/w Section 5(l), Section 8 r/w Section 7 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012. The third accused in the case is yet to be arrested.

The prosecution case is that, on 09.10.2019 the 1st accused committed penetrative sexual assault on the defacto complainant at her house which was repeated on two other occasions in January and March of 2020. Thereafter, the 2nd accused under the promise of marriage committed sexual intercourse with the victim several times between 06.12.2021 to 17.01.2022 and thereby both accused committed the offences alleged against them. The 3rd accused is another person and as mentioned earlier has not yet been arrested and is alleged to be staying abroad.

Smt. D. Leema Rosy, the learned counsel for the 1st accused and Sri. T.P.Pradeep, the learned counsel for the 2nd accused submitted that, petitioners are totally innocent of the allegations levelled against them and that, the actual culprit is the 3rd accused, who is staying abroad. It was further submitted that, petitioners were in a relationship with the victim at different points of time and that they have been wrongly arrayed as accused in the instant case.

Sri. Noushad K.A, the learned Public Prosecutor on the other hand contended that, petitioners are arrayed as accused in a serious crime and that if they are released on bail, they will be a threat to the victim. The learned Public Prosecutor also submitted that, the 1st accused was arrested on 19.04.2022, while the 2nd accused was arrested on 20.04.2022.

On appreciating the contentions raised by the learned counsel on either side, I notice that the 1st accused is a boy of 20 years while the 2nd accused is only 23 years. The investigation, as far as the petitioners are concerned, is almost completed.

A perusal of the case diary reveals that prima facie there are materials on record to connect the petitioners with the crime. However, since petitioners were remanded to judicial custody on 19.04.2022 and 20.04.2022 respectively, I am of the view that the continued detention of the petitioners is not required in the circumstances of the case. Therefore, the petitioners are entitled to be released on bail.

In the result, these bail applications are allowed on the following conditions:-

(i) Petitioners shall be released on bail on them executing a bond for Rs.50,000/- (Rupees fifty thousand only) each, with two solvent sureties each for the like sum to the satisfaction of the court having jurisdiction.

(ii) Petitioners shall appear before the Investigating Officer as and when required;

(iii) Petitioners shall not intimidate or attempt to influence the witnesses; nor shall they tamper with the evidence or contact the victim or her family members;

(iv) Petitioners shall not commit any offence while they are on bail.

(v) Petitioners shall not leave India without the permission of the Court having jurisdiction.

(vi) Petitioners shall not enter the limits of Palluruthy Police Station.

In case of violation of any of the above conditions, the jurisdictional Court shall be empowered to consider the application for cancellation, if any, and pass appropriate orders in accordance with the law, notwithstanding the bail having been granted by this Court.