The Supreme Court Set aside a High Court decision to grant bail to a police officer accused of rape under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. Justices A S Bopanna and Sanjay Kumar delivered the ruling in response to an appeal filed by the survivor’s mother.
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NEW DELHI: On Friday (3rd May): The Supreme Court set aside the Allahabad High Court’s decision to grant bail to a police officer accused of raping a 13-year-old girl. The accused, who held the position of Station House Officer (SHO), allegedly abused his authority to commit the heinous crime against the minor survivor. The apex court, after considering the plea filed by the survivor’s mother, deemed the high court’s decision unjustifiable and ordered the accused to surrender immediately.
The order was delivered by Justices A. S. Bopanna and Sanjay Kumar in response to a plea filed by the survivor’s mother, who was challenging the high court’s order dated March 2 of the previous year.
Senior advocate H. S. Phoolka appeared for the survivor’s mother in the case.
The top court said that there is no reason to justify the grant of bail to the accused, who was the Station House Officer (SHO) and allegedly grossly abused his office to commit the “same heinous crime” of raping the minor survivor.
“In the present case, the situation is far worse as respondent no. 1, being the station house officer of the police station, where the minor victim girl was brought for securing her justice, is alleged to have resorted to committing the same heinous crime of raping her,” the bench said in its order passed on Friday.
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“In this situation, his prayer for the grant of bail required more than the cursory appraisal that was bestowed by the high court. We do not find any reasons worth the name justifying the grant of bail to respondent no. 1 at this stage,” it said.
It allowed the appeal filed by the survivor’s mother and set aside the High Court order.
The bench directed that the accused shall surrender forthwith, failing which the state shall take the necessary steps to apprehend him and send him to judicial custody.
She approached the top court against the High court order granting bail to the accused in an FIR lodged for alleged offences under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including that of rape, and under the provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
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In its order, the top court noted that according to the prosecution, the minor girl was placed in the custody of the SHO on April 27, 2022, in connection with registering a complaint against four men, who were alleged to have sexually assaulted her.
