Delhi Court grants bail to POCSO accused languishing in jail

The Dwarka District Court has granted bail to an accused in custody for about five years in a case under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

The accused was charged under Section 5(l) r/w 6 of the POCSO Act which is punishable with rigorous life imprisonment. The Additional Sessions Judge Pooja Talwar on Friday while considering the bail plea said, “Keeping in mind the facts that all the material witnesses have already been examined and the accused is in custody for about 5 years, accused Kanhaiya Lal is hereby released on bail. However, the accused is hereby directed not to contact the child victim and her family through any mode till the pendency of the case.”

In the year 2018, FIR was registered against the accused for committing repeated sexual offences over a period of 8 months and clicking offensive photographs of the child victim. The statement of the victim was also recorded by the Magistrate. The accused was thereafter arrested and since then he was in custody.

Earlier regular and interim bail applications of the accused were dismissed by the trial court and High Court.Advocate Yugant Sharma and Advocate Siddharth Bhardwaj of Analyst Law Associates appearing for the accused argued that there was a delay of almost 8 months in the registration of FIR from the date of the first incident and that the prosecution failed to explain such an inordinate delay. Moreover, the accused has been framed and falsely implicated in the present case in view of the financial dispute which arose between the parties.

The counsels for the accused further argued that there are material contradictions in the statements of the witnesses examined and that there is no reliable material on record which substantiates the allegations against the accused.

It is further argued by the counsels that the accused is a heart patient and has serious problems in his legs as he walks with the help of crutches. That the accused has deep roots in society and since all the material witnesses have been examined so there appears no scope for influencing the witnesses, they said.

Counsel for the accused also argued that in the POCSO Act, there is no condition that the Court has to satisfy before releasing the accused on bail as opposed to other stringent laws including PMLA, UAPA etc.

It was further submitted by the counsels that the liberty of the accused is at stake. Also, the accused is not a flight risk and taking into consideration all the submissions made, the accused deserved to be released on bail.

In reply to the above submissions, the Additional Public Prosecutor appearing for the state vehemently opposed the bail application of the accused stating that the allegations against the accused are very serious and also the punishment for the offence is very grave. Further, the statement of the child victim was also recorded who opposed the bail application of the accused.