Sri Naveen vs State of Karnataka

V. Jagannathan, J.—Heard both sides in respect of bail sought by the Petitioner who is accused of having committed the offence of rape which is punishable u/s 376 of IPC.

Referring to the complaint lodged by the victim, the Petitioner''s counsel submits that the plain reading of the complaint would go to show that the Petitioner and the complainant were in love with each other for over three years and only after the girl became pregnant of two months old, and when the Petitioner refused to marry the girl, that the allegation of rape has been made against the Petitioner.

Having thus heard the Petitioner''s counsel and on going through the contents of the complaint and the age of the victim when the alleged incident took place and the Doctor''s report: also putting the age of the girl at 24 years, I am of the view that at this stage, the material does not give room to take the view that there is prima facie case against the Petitioner.

In the result, the petition is allowed by imposing the following conditions:

The Petitioner shall be released on bail on his executing a personal bond for Rs. 25,000/- with two sureties for the likesum to the satisfaction of the trial court.

He shall not; hamper the investigation and shall not give threat to the prosecution witnesses in any manner.

He shall mark his attendance before the jurisdictional police on every Saturday between 10.00 a.m. and 5.00 p.m.

He shall appear before the trial court on all the dates of hearing without fail.

The above observations are made only for the purpose of considering the bail application and shall not have any bearing on the merits of the case at a later stage.