HC grants bail to man in gang rape case of mentally unfit minor girl

An accused in gang rape of a mentally unfit minor girl, who was threatened to remain silent about the incident, has been granted bail by the Delhi High Court which said that key witnesses in the case have been examined by the trial court.

The high court directed the accused, who has been in jail for over three years, not to influence any witness or tamper with the evidence directly or indirectly.

“It is not in dispute that the victim and her mother have already been examined on oath. Thus, material witnesses have been examined... However, in view of the submission made by counsel for the parties and the fact that petitioner (accused) is in judicial custody since May 16, 2017, therefore, without commenting on the merits of the case, I am of the view that petitioner deserves bail,” Justice Suresh Kumar Kait said.

The court said the accused Nitin, represented through advocate Pramod Kumar Dubey, shall be released on bail on furnishing a personal bond of Rs 25,000 and a surety of the like amount.

According to the prosecution, the victim alleged that in May 2017, Nitin and co-accused Deepu took her to the roof of a house and forcefully made sexual relations with her, while another accused who was a juvenile fled from the spot after seeing her condition.

The minor girl, who is now 17 years old, alleged that the two accused had forcibly established physical relations with her on several occasions.

On May 13, 2017, the girl narrated the incident to her mother that Nitin and Deepu had forcefully made sexual relations with her and whenever she used to go out, the juvenile accused used to follow and misbehave with her.

The girl also said that the accused had threatened her with dire consequences if she disclosed the assault to anyone, the prosecution told the court.

The girl’s mother informed the police and a case was registered against the accused for the alleged offences of gang rape and criminal intimidation under the IPC and aggravated penetrative sexual assault under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act at Hari Nagar Police Station.

The prosecutor submitted that during the trial of the case, the lower court got the mental age assessment of the victim done from the Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences (IHBAS).

As per psychological assessment report, her mental age has been found to be 8 years, whereas her current age was 17 years.

Dubey sought bail for the accused contending that there was sufficient evidence to show contradiction on the number of people involved in the alleged incident.

The counsel said the prosecution's case rested solely on the girl's false testimony as the evidence showed that the prosecutrix and the witness kept changing their version and taking contradictory stand in their evidence and the theory propounded on the basis thereof, leave scope for multiple other conclusions.

He submitted that the prosecution came up with the case that the victim was mentally unfit, which was contrary to school records and claimed that no impairment has been specified in the document.

The prosecutor opposed the bail of the accused saying there was strong apprehension that he will tamper with the evidence and influence the witnesses in the case by force, fraud and inducement.