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Synopsis

The Bombay High Court has granted bail to a man who was charged with disrobing a 12-year-old girl and taking nude pictures of her.

A single-judge bench of the high court, led by Justice PK Chavan was hearing a bail application filed by a man who faced charges of stalking and sexually harassing a minor

It was alleged that on 29th August 2021, the man forcefully took the minor into an under-construction building and showed her obscene pictures. Thereafter, the man tried to remove her clothes and fondled her breast.

It was also alleged that the applicant had also taken her nude photographs. Subsequently, an FIR came to be lodged by the victim's father on 3rd September 2023.

Advocate Bhanudas Jagtap, representing the applicant, argued that the man had been in custody for nearly 29 months, and the trial was unlikely to proceed expeditiously.

The Additional Public Prosecutor, A. A. Palkar, countered, stating that the incident wasn't isolated, and the applicant had harassed and stalked the victim on multiple occasions during her tuition classes.

Palkar highlighted the victim's statement to the Investigating Officer, where she claimed that the applicant had disrobed her and taken nude photographs on his mobile.

However, the high court observed that the man's mobile phone had been seized, and no incriminating evidence was found on it.

“It appears that though the mobile has been seized by the Investigating Officer nothing incriminating has been found in it. Considering the over all material on record coupled with the fact that the applicant is behind the bars without a trial for 29 months with no hope of trial being concluded within a reasonable time, I am persuaded to grant him bail,” the order reads.

Case title: Sunil Vyankatesh Vadar vs State of Maharashtra & Anr