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“Talented students are state’s future assets,” and therefore continuation of detention of the accused in the interest of trial of the case, may not be necessary, observed Gauhati High Court while granting bail to a 21 year old, IIT B-Tech student accused of sexually assaulting a fellow student.
The single bench of Justice Ajit Borthakur during the course of hearing observed that, “there is a clear prima facie case as alleged against the accused petitioner.”
He however pointed out that, “as the investigation in the case is completed and both the informant/victim girl and the accused are the state’s future assets being talented students pursuing technical courses at the I.I.T., Guwahati, who are young in the age group of 19 to 21 years only and further, they are being hailed from two different states, continuation of detention of the accused in the interest of trial of the case, if charges are framed, may not be necessary.”
“A perusal of the list of witnesses too, cited in the charge-sheet, this Court finds no possibility of the accused tampering with their evidence or influencing them directly or indirectly, if released on bail,” added the Bench.
It must be noted that as per the FIR filed by the victim, the accused had “lured” her on the night of March 28 to discuss her role and responsibility in a college club. She alleged that he had made her “unconscious” by “forcibly administering alcohol” and then “raped” her.
Consequently, the victim was moved to Guwahati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) the same night and she regained consciousness the next morning. Thereafter, she underwent treatment and forensic examination. She was discharged from GMCH and then shifted to the in-house hospital on campus, where she underwent treatment till April 3.
A statement released by IIT-G on April 2 said that a fact-finding committee was formed. Later, after completion of the investigation the accused was charge sheeted under Sections 376/328/307/120B of the IPC.
The Learned Counsel appearing for applicant/ accused contended that, the accused has been in judicial custody for about 120 days in connection with the case, which is entirely based on assumption of commission of the offence of rape without any credible evidence.
He further added that, “as the investigation has already been completed and as there is no chance of him jumping the course of justice in any manner, being a student of I.I.T., Guwahati, further continuation of his detention for the purpose of trial of the case may not be warranted and that would amount to causing further damage to his brilliant academic pursuit.”
On the contrary, the counsel for victim while opposing the bail contended that,
“The allegations made in detail by the victim girl, who is a student of 2nd year B. Tech Chemical Engineering of I.I.T., Guwahati, in her F.I.R., dated 07.04.2021 and in the statements recorded under Sections 161 and 164 Cr.P.C. “
She further added that, “the charge-sheet prima facie establish a clear case in favour of the victim girl. Mr. Das also contends that if the liberty of bail is granted to the accused, the trial of the case is certain to be hampered, which may occasion gross injustice to the victim.”
Taking into consideration the facts and circumstances of the present case the Bench observed that,
“It is pertinent to be mentioned that it is judicially well settled that while dealing with a bail application, the Court is not called upon to discuss the merits or demerits of the evidence available against the accused, but some reasons for prima facie concluding while bail is being granted need to be indicated in brief.”
Thereby, the bench granted bail to the applicant/accused putting following conditions on him-
“Any violation of the above conditions will warrant cancellation of the bail order after due process of law,” Bench added.
[CASE TITLE - UTSAV KADAM VERSUS THE STATE OF ASSAM]
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