New Delhi, Dec 27 (PTI) A Delhi court has granted anticipatory bail to a 21-year-old man accused of raping and impregnating a minor while directing him to take welfare measures for the infant born to the survivor.
Additional sessions judge Anu Aggarwal deprecated the attitude of the accused and prosecutrix in not making any submissions over the infant’s welfare and observed the child, despite having parents, was forced to live in a care home.
The court was hearing the anticipatory bail plea of the accused against whom Delhi Police registered an FIR under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
In an order dated November 18, recently made available, the court said, “It is clear from the record that the prosecutrix and the applicant (or accused) were in a relationship and that out of their relationship, one boy was born.” The prosecutrix, the court said, was not willing to pursue the case as she wanted to marry the man after she became a major. The man was also observed to have shown willingness to marry her.
The court, however, said the decisions of the accused and the prosecutrix couldn’t change the fact that he established physical relations with a minor.
“The fact that the prosecutrix is willing to marry the applicant prima facie shows that the relationship was consensual. Whether the prosecutrix wrongly informed she was a major to the applicant is a matter of trial,” it said.
The court said the infant was a victim in the case as he was born out of the alleged crime.
It said, “The child is suffering for no fault of his and is forced to live without parents though he has both a father and a mother… What is disturbing is that when the bail application was heard on August 29, the applicant and the prosecutrix were only submitting regarding their willingness for marriage and that the applicant should be granted bail and none of them submitted regarding the child.” The court said the affidavits of the prosecutrix, her mother and the accused, did not clearly show they were willing to take custody of the infant.
It said only when the court posed a question about the infant’s welfare, the accused in an affidavit showed willingness to take his custody.
“The willingness to take the custody of the child and to bring up the child is missing from the contents of the bail application,” the court said, “the language of the applicant’s affidavit showed that he had filed the affidavit out of compulsion to get the relief”.
While granting the man “interim protection until further orders”, the court imposed several conditions on him towards the infant’s welfare.
“The applicant shall deposit a recurring fixed deposit receipt of Rs 2 lakh in the child’s name within 15 days. A separate account shall be opened in the child’s name by the welfare home for children and the applicant shall deposit Rs 10,000 per month for the welfare of the child in the said account,” the court said.
The director of AIIMS was ordered to ensure the child was given proper medical treatment as he had suffered from seizures at the time of birth, and doctors had prescribed him “continuous medicine”. PTI MNR AMK
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