Surya vs State Of Kerala

Ziyad Rahman A.A., J

This is an application filed u/s 439 of Code of Criminal Procedure seeking regular bail.

The petitioner is the second accused in Crime No.616 of 2023 of Poovar Police Station, Thiruvananthapuram. The offences alleged against the petitioner and the other accused are under Sections 376(1), 354(A)(1) (ii), 354(C)(2) r/w 34 of the Indian Penal Code, Section 66(E), 67(A) of IT Act, 2000, Section 4(1) r/w 3(a), 9(1) r/w 10, 11 (ii) (iv) (v) r/w Section 12, 13 (a) (c) r/w Section 14, 15 (1) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012.

The prosecution case is that, the first accused, enticed the victim, a minor girl aged 15 years, and taken her to various places and had sexual intercourse with her. It is also alleged that the first accused had captured nude photographs of the victim. As against the petitioner it is alleged that, he along with the first accused, threatened the defacto complainant stating that the nude photographs taken by the first accused would be shared with others and thereby, collected an amount of Rs. 5,000/- from her. It is also alleged that the petitioner, and the first accused shared some of the photographs on the social media platform.

The crime was registered in such circumstances, and as part of the investigation, the petitioner was arrested on 18.05.2023. Since then, he has been under judicial detention. This application for regular bail was submitted in such circumstances.

Heard Sri. Sasthamangalam S. Ajithkumar, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner and Smt. Sreeja V., the learned Senior Public Prosecutor appearing for the State.

I have carefully gone through the records. Even though he approached this Court on an earlier occasion, the said application was dismissed as per Annexure 2, mainly because of the reason that the investigation was pending. Now it is reported that the investigation is already over, and the final report is submitted. From the materials placed on record, it can be seen that the main allegation of sexual assault is made against the first accused. As far as the role of the petitioner is concerned, it is confined to sharing of the nude photographs of the defacto complainant and also threatening her.

Now, the petitioner has been in judicial custody since 18.05.2023. In such circumstances, taking note of the period of incarceration the petitioner had already undergone and also the fact that the investigation in this case is already over, I do not find it necessary to continue the incarceration of the petitioner.

In such circumstances, this bail application is allowed and the petitioner is directed to be released on bail subject to following conditions:

(i) The petitioner shall be released on bail on executing a bond for Rs. 1,00,000/- (Rupees One lakh only) with two solvent sureties for the like sum each to the satisfaction of the jurisdictional Court.

(ii) The petitioner shall appear before the trial court as and when required.

(iii) The petitioner shall also appear before the investigating officer as and when required by him.

(iv) The petitioner shall not commit any offence of similar nature while on bail.

(v) The petitioner shall not make any attempt to contact any of the prosecution witnesses, directly or through any other person, or in any other way try to tamper with the evidence or influence any witnesses or other persons related to the investigation.

(vi) The petitioner shall not leave India without the permission of the trial Court.

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