Delhi High Court
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New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has denied anticipatory bail to a man accused of raping a 17-year old girl while rejecting his contention that both were friends, saying friendship does not give licence to rape the victim repeatedly, confine her, or beat her mercilessly.
Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma dismissed the application of the man in the case lodged under Prevention of Child from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, noting that the accused had still not joined the investigation, despite his anticipatory bail plea having been either withdrawn or rejected on four occasions in the past.
"The contention on behalf of the applicant that the applicant and the complainant were friends and therefore, it could be a case of consensual relationship, cannot be accepted by this court.
"Even if the parties concerned were friends, friendship does not give any licence to the applicant to rape the victim repeatedly, confine her in his friend’s house and beat her mercilessly, as prima facie disclosed by the complainant in her statement...duly corroborated by the medical records," the judge said in an order passed on October 17.
According to the FIR lodged on the basis of a complaint by the minor girl, she had known the accused for several years as a neighbour.
She alleged that he took her to his friend's house, where he beat and repeatedly sexually assaulted her, and threatened to kill her if she disclosed the incident to anyone.
The accused had sought the bail on the ground that there was a delay of 11 days in filing of the FIR, adding that the relationship between him and the victim was consensual.
While rejecting accused's contention of delay, Justice Sharma said, "Quite naturally, it was owing to the fear and trauma of the said incident that the complainant had initially resisted from disclosing about the incident to her parents." "Therefore, in view of the foregoing circumstances, coupled with the serious nature of allegations levelled in the present case, prima facie corroborated by the material on record, this Court finds that no case for grant of anticipatory bail is made out. Accordingly, the present application stands dismissed," the judge said.