Delhi High Court: In a case wherein an application was filed seeking release of the petitioner-accused on regular bail in FIR registered under Section 376 of the Penal Code, 1860 (‘IPC’) and Sections 4 and 6 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (‘POCSO’), a Single Judge Bench of Jasmeet Singh, J. noted that there was no allegation of any kind against the accused in the statement under Section 164 of Criminal procedure Code, 1973 (‘CrPC’) of the prosecutrix and even the FSL report showed that the DNA of the unborn child of the prosecutrix did not match the DNA of the accused. Thus, the Court allowed the application directed that the accused should be released on bail.
Background
In the present case, it was stated that the accused had a sexual relationship with the prosecutrix on the pretext of marriage and because of which, the prosecutrix became pregnant. Hence, the FIR was registered against the accused.
The Court noted that the statement under Section 164 of CrPC of the prosecutrix wherein it had been stated that it was accused who had sexual relationship with the prosecutrix and there was no allegation of any kind against the accused in the statement under Section 164 of CrPC of the prosecutrix. The Court further noted that even the FSL report showed that the DNA of the unborn child of the prosecutrix did not match the DNA of the accused. Thus, the Court allowed the application.
In the present case, the accused was in custody since 14-8-2022 and custodial interrogation of the accused was not required as the police after investigation had filed the charge-sheet and supplementary charge sheet had also been filed. The trial was also not likely to conclude soon, and the continued incarceration of the accused would not serve any purpose. The apprehension of the State that the accused might flee from the course of justice or might influence the witnesses could be addressed by imposing stringent conditions upon the accused.
Thus, the Court directed that the accused should be released on bail in FIR registered under Section 376 of IPC and Sections 4 and 6 of POCSO, subject to following conditions:
- The accused or his family members/relatives/friends would not be within a radius of 1 km of the prosecutrix or any of her family members and the petitioner should not contact her through WhatsApp, mobile, telephone, SMS, etc. or any other social media;
- The accused should not indulge in any act or omission that was unlawful, illegal or that would prejudice the proceedings in pending cases, if any;
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The accused or his family members/relatives/friends would not try to intimidate the prosecutrix or family of the prosecutrix or influence/tamper with any of the witnesses/evidence in any way.
The Court disposed of the present application.
[Kuldeep Kumar v. State (NCT of Delhi), 2023 SCC OnLine Del 3588, Order dated 30-5-2023]
Advocates who appeared in this case :
For the Petitioner: Nipun Katyal, Anam Siddiqui, Naved Ahmed, Tanya Chowdhary, Advocates;
For the Respondent: Ajay Vikram Singh, APP.
