The said application was brought under 439 CrPC before the Allahabad High Court of a married man who was accused of trying to convert the prosecutrix to Muslim religion and was pressurizing her to perform Nikah.

Essentially, the Court was dealing with the bail of one A.A who has been booked under Sections 363, 366, 376 IPC, and Section 3 (Penetrative sexual assault) and Section 5 (Aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act [POCSO], 2012.

FACTS OF THE CASE

Accused-applicant is a married man. He practices Muslim religion. He introduced himself through social media to the prosecutrix as ‘Raj’. He got the prosecutrix entangled in his false love web. He enticed away the prosecutrix, aged around 13 years.  However, the medical age of the prosecutrix has been determined to be 16-17 years.

COURT OBSERVATIONS

The Bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh noted that the accused not only betrayed his wife and family, but also breached the trust of an innocent girl, who believed in him and got entangled in his false love.

 However, the Court, in its order noted that the medical age of the prosecutrix had been determined to be 16-17 years and as per the educational testimonials, her age was 16 years.

Looking at the nature of the offense, the marital status of  the accused-applicant, and also the fact that he introduced himself as ‘Raj’ to the prosecutrix though he is A.A, and the prosecutrix being minor, the Court did not find any ground to enlarge the accused-applicant on bail.

“The accused-applicant tried to convert the prosecutrix to the Muslim religion and was pressurizing her to perform Nikha with him. When the accused applicant was trying all these tricks, he was apprehended along with the prosecutrix. The accuse-applicant not only betrayed his wife and family but also breached the trust of an innocent girl, who believed in him and got entangled in his false love,” the Court remarked.

The Bail application was accordingly rejected, however, the trial court was asked to endeavor to conclude the trial as early as possible, preferably, within one year.

– Written by Vaishali Jain & Hamda Arfeen