Bombay High Court denies bail to man accused of raping minor, burying foetus

The Bombay High Court recently rejected a bail application filed by a man accused of raping a minor girl and then trying to get rid of the prematurely born foetus after the rape victim suffered miscarriage.The man claimed that he did not commit the offence of rape as he was in love with the minor who was over seventeen years old. He argued that he has been languishing in jail for over four years after the trial court rejected his bail application twice. .Single-judge Justice Prithviraj K Chavan, however, observed that if there was real love, the man would not have attempted to destroy his own baby.“Since the victim was below 18 years, he (accused) has been rightly prosecuted for the offences under the provision of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO Act) also. Had there been real love with the victim, applicant would not have destroyed his own baby,” the High Court said in its March 13 order. .By way of background, the police had received information that a person was trying to dispose of a premature foetus. When they reached the location, they noticed the bail applicant/ accused was being assaulted by a crowd. On enquiry, the accused informed the police that he had illicit relations with his next door neighbour, a minor, who became pregnant. In order to conceal the pregnancy, the accused said he gave her certain pills to cause a miscarriage. The victim suffered a miscarriage in August 2019 and the accused then tried to dispose of the premature foetus, the prosecution said. The Court was further told that the accused was caught red-handed by the police. The criminal case filed against him cited Sections 315 (act done with intent to cause foetus to die after birth), 318 (concealment of birth by secret disposal) and 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and provisions of the POCSO Act. .After examining the case records, the High Court decided to reject his plea for release on bail."Statement of the victim also reveals that the applicant committed forcible sexual intercourse resulting into her pregnancy and then forced her to consume the pills resulting in the abortion. Looking to the seriousness of the offence as well as possibility of influencing the witnesses and tampering the evidence, this is not a fit case for releasing the applicant on bail," the Court said. .[Read order]