Supreme Court grants bail to POSCO accused languishing in jail from past 4 years

Supreme Court: In a special leave to appeal filed by the accused against the judgment and order passed by the Rajasthan High Court, dismissing his bail application for the fourth time, on the ground that victim has deposed against the accused and that DNA report connects the accused with the alleged incident, the division bench of Abhay S. Oka, and Ujjal Bhuyan, JJ. has granted bail to the accused in a matter pertaining to Section 376 IPC and Section 3 read with Section 4 of POCSO Act, after 4 years imprisonment.

The accused submitted that the prosecutrix in her cross examination has stated that the police has shown her the photograph of the accused for the test identification parade. This means it was a pre-planned investigation conducted by the police which culminated within seven days. The DNA report submitted by the State Forensic Science Laboratory showed no match between the semen of the accused and the samples found on the clothes of the victim.

The Court noted that the accused has undergone incarceration for more than 4 years. The prosecutrix has been examined and cross-examined before the Court.

After perusing the evidence of the prosecutrix, the Court viewed that the accused is entitled to be enlarged on bail pending trial, especially when no antecedents of the accused have been brought on record.

Hence, the Court directed the accused to be produced before the Trial Court within one week from the date of this order, and the Trial Court was directed to enlarge the accused on bail till conclusion of the trial on appropriate terms and conditions.