A couple sentenced to 10 year in jail for sexually assaulting a 4 year old neighbour were granted bail by the Bombay High Court on a personal bond of ₹25000 each. The conviction was instituted on March 11, 2021 by the special court (POCSO).
The criminal appeal filed by Ashwin Mohanlal Parikh and others was heard by a single-judge bench of Justice Revati Mohite-Dere who passed the order of bail.
The counsel for the applicants, clearly denied the allegations made on the elderly couple. The allegations were called to be baseless and false. The counsel further contended that the core reason behind such allegations was to take over their residential home.
The court upon hearing the submissions came to an observation that there were prima facie certain inconsistencies and material omissions in the evidence of the prosecution witnesses. The court noted that initially the FIR lodged consisted of offenses punishable under Section 354 r/w Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code and that Section 376 of IPC and provisions of POCSO were added later on.
The court held that the applicants were not misusing any liberties granted to them and were on bail pending trial. With the evidence on record it becomes clear that the applicants have made out a case for suspension of their sentence and enlargement of their bail period.
Lawcutor 