Pothuraju Srikanth v. The State Of Telangana

HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE A. SHANKAR NARAYANA CRIMINAL PETITION No.5059 OF 2017 ORDER:

The petitioner/accused No.1 in Crime No.1 of 2017 of Vatpally Police Station, Medak District filed the present Criminal Petition under Sections 437 and 439 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (for short, 'the Code') requesting to grant regular bail. 2.

The petitioner alleged to have committed the offences punishable under Sections 366A and 376 of I.P.C. and Sections 4 and 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012. 3.

Heard Smt. S.A.V. Ratnam, the learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned Additional Public Prosecutor for the State of Telangana.

4.

The learned counsel pleaded innocence and false implication of the petitioner. According to the learned counsel, the petitioner is a young boy of 19 years and in case he is detained in prison there is every likelihood of his future being affected and becoming a criminal. It is also according to her if the alleged victim girl is eighteen-year-old and she is at the verge of becoming major and the parents of the victim girl fixed an alliance for her and betrothal function was also fixed, and perhaps to avoid the marriage arranged by her parents, provoked the petitioner to elope and that the petitioner

is not having any physical relationship with the victim, and the parents of the victim girl and the de facto complainant knew about the love affair of the victim with the accused, and as such they did not lodge report before the police about missing of the victim and the very fact that the complaint was lodged with 36 days delay is sufficient to disbelieve the complaint allegations and sought to grant regular bail stating that the petitioner was arrested and remanded to judicial custody on 26.4.2017.

5.

The learned Additional Public Prosecutor would strongly resist the request contending that it is a heinous crime committed by the petitioner and the age of the petitioner is not the criteria to grant regular bail in a case of this nature and there is evidence in abundance to connect the petitioner with his complicity in the commission of the offences alleged against him.

6.

Perused the Case Diary. The complaint was lodged by the grandmother of the victim. Her version is that on 1.3.2017 at about 12.00 noon when she went to attend the function at Raikoda village and returned at 5.00 p.m. she found that her granddaughter was missing at home and she informed the same to her son-in-law and all of them searched for her in known places and in fact she was kept in her custody from the month of July of the previous year as the petitioner threatened them that he would take away her granddaughter and would marry her, on account of which her daughter and son-inlaw kept the victim in her custody.

7.

It is true the said complaint was lodged on 6.4.2017 with a delay of 36 days, but in cases of this nature where family prestige would be at stake if the complaint is lodged immediately, to avoid social taboo, the parents of the victim would hesitate to lodge the complaint immediately without making efforts to trace out the girl. Therefore, while deciding an application for grant of bail, the delay in lodging First Information Report cannot be given due importance. 8.

Now, turning to the offences alleged against the petitioner, it is a case of kidnapping and commission of rape and the victim girl is minor and the offences punishable under Sections 366A, 376 of IPC and 4 and 6 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offices Act, 2012 have been levelled. It is not a fit case to grant regular bail though the petitioner was remanded to judicial custody on 26.4.2017. Further, it cannot be ruled out that the petitioner gets a chance in case he is released to influence the victim girl accounting for tampering with the collection of evidence.

9.

Hence, the Criminal Petition is dismissed.

As a sequel thereto, Miscellaneous Petitions, if any, pending in the Criminal Petition shall stand closed.

__________________________ A. SHANKAR NARAYANA, J Dt. 07.07.2017 gbs