Petitioner accused of sexually assaulting a woman giving her a false promise of marriage is granted bail : High Court of Kerala
Petitioner who was accused of sexually assaulting the victim on several occasion was granted bail as investigation is over and final report has been submitted and was upheld by High Court of Kerala though the learned bench led by HONOURABLE DR. JUSTICE KAUSER EDAPPAGATH in the case of P.V. ELDHOSE @ BENNY VARGHESE vs. STATE OF KERALA (BAIL APPL. NO. 2264 OF 2022) on 25th March, 2022.
Brief facts of the case as presented by the prosecution is that the petitioner sexually assaulted the victim on several occasions between September, 2017 to November, 2017 at Swargamedu Resort, Adimaly after giving her a false promise of marriage and thereby committed the offence.
Learned counsel for petitioner submitted that the petitioner is absolutely innocent and he has been falsely implicated in the present case. He further submitted that there are no materials to connect the petitioner with the alleged crime BA. NO.2264/2022 3 and hence he is entitled to get bail. The learned Public Prosecutor opposed the bail application.
A reading of the first information statement would show that the victim is a married woman having a married daughter. The first information statement would further show that the victim is voluntarily residing along with the petitioner in the resort mentioned above for a pretty long period. The petitioner was arrested on 4.2.2022 and the investigation is over and the final report has been filed.
The Court held that as the investigation is over and final report has been submitted there are no any reason to hold that the continued detention of the petitioner is required for any purpose. For all these reasons, the petitioner is entitled to be released on bail on conditions – “The petitioner shall be released on bail on executing a bond for Rs.1,00,000/- with two solvent sureties for the like sum each to the satisfaction of the jurisdictional Magistrate/Court, the petitioner shall not commit any offence of like nature while on bail and petitioner shall not make any attempt to contact any of the prosecution witnesses, directly or through any other person, or any other way try to tamper with the evidence or influence any witnesses or other persons related to the investigation”.
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Judgment reviewed by – Amit Singh