Read Time: 06 minutes

Synopsis

The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted bail to a Inamudin, an accused in a POCSO Case, after observing that the appellant had already been in custody for nine months, apart from the fact that him and the alleged victim had filed a plea seeking police protection on account of being an interfaith couple.

According to the facts stipulated in the special leave petition, challenging a Rajasthan High Court order rejecting his bail, the appellant, a muslim man and his partner, a hindu girl is an interfaith couple, who were living together and had moved a protection plea before the State. On rejection of the same, FIR was lodged against the appellant under the aforesaid charges, by parents of the girl. 

Notably, according to the order rejecting the regular bail of accused, the high court had noted that the accused had been threatening to make a video of the alleged victim viral and that she had stated about threat of rape as a result, in a statement recorded before the magistrate. At the time of the alleged incident, the victim was a minor.

However, a Division Bench of Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia, while allowing the appeal against the order of high court, deemed it fit to grant bail to the man and observed, “Three factors weigh with us. The live-in relationship agreement of 25.8.2022, the parties filing a joint petition for police protection specially as an interfaith couple and that the petitioner has already been in custody for about nine months.”

The appellant and his partner were neighbours. The facts are contested on the aspect of them falling in a romantic relationship, as according to the counter affidavit, the girl was a minor at the time she is said to have eloped with the accused. The appellant had allegedly established a physical relationship with her and blackmailed her to elope with her parents money and ornaments.

On August 26, 2022, a missing report was filed by the father of the girl, after they eloped.

Following this, the couple approached the Rajasthan High Court seeking police protection.

Later, the father of the girl lodged an FIR against the muslim man. Consequently, the appellant was charge-sheeted and arrested in October 2022.

“Keeping the facts and circumstances of the matter and statement of the victim u/s 164 CrPC available on record, without commenting upon the merits of the case, I do not deem it fit to accept the bail application of the accused”, the Rajasthan High Court had stated while rejecting regular bail of the man.

The special leave petition was filed by Advocate on Record Namit Saxena.

Case Title: Imamudin v. State of Rajasthan | Criminal Appeal No. 1745 of 2023