M. Vigneshwaran @ Vignesh v. The State

24.02.2022 Item no. 02 Court No.32 Avijit Mitra Calcutta High Court In the Circuit Bench at Portblair Appellate Side Through Video Conference C.R.M. (DB) No.1 of 2022 with CRAN 1 of 2022 In Re:- An application for bail under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure filed in connection with Aberdeen Police Station Case No.153 of 2021 dated 18.12.2021 under Sections 3/4 of the POCSO Act read with Sections 363/323/427/504 of the Indian Penal Code;

And In Re : M. Vigneshwaran @ Vignesh .... petitioner Mr. Prabir Kumar Ghosh, Mr. Mit Guha Roy ....for the petitioner Mr. A.S. Zinu ..... for the State Mr. Ghosh, learned lawyer appearing for the petitioner submitted that the present petitioner is a college student. The relationship was consensual. He is in custody for about 68 days. Investigation is in progress. Further detention is not necessary. Therefore, he prays for bail on any stringent condition. Per contra, Ms. Zinu, learned advocate appearing for the State submitted that there are strong incriminating elements against the petitioner as appears from the statement of the victim girl. The victim was minor at the time of commission of the offence. Chargesheet has been filed. Considering the seriousness of the offence, she strongly opposed the bail application.

We have heard rival submissions and perused the case diary. From the consistent statement of the victim girl we find strong incriminating elements attributing overt act to the present petitioner. The victim is a minor. Therefore, we are not inclined to exercise our discretion in favour of the petitioner and the prayer for bail is refused.

Accordingly, the application for bail being CRM (DB) 1 of 2022 and connected application being CRAN 1 of 2022 are dismissed.

All parties shall act on the server copies of this order duly downloaded from the official website of this Court. (Sugato Majumdar, J.) (Tapabrata Chakraborty, J.)