New Delhi, Jun 29 The Delhi High Court on Monday cancelled the bail granted to a 57-year-old private school caretaker accused of raping a three-year-old girl on the premises in west Delhi's Janakpuri, and asked him to surrender on July 1.
A vacation bench of Justice Vinod Kumar passed the verdict on the pleas by the Delhi Police and the complainant against the trial court's May 7 decision to release Lalit Kumar on bail in the case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
"I have agreed with the State and the petitioner (complainant). Both petitions are allowed. Accused Lalit Kumar is directed to surrender before the jurisdictional POCSO court on July 1 at 2 pm," said Justice Kumar while setting aside the trial court's decision.
In the 16-page judgement, the court said that the trial court granted bail to the accused just after a week of his arrest when the "investigation was in full swing and at a crucial stage."
The court opined that the trial court did not give due consideration to the fact that the complaint was made on the very day the incident allegedly took place, and though the accused was not named in the FIR, he was subsequently identified as the offender by the girl.
The court asserted that a small child cannot be equated with an adult, who can narrate the facts in proper sequence with accuracy, and merely because her version may appear incoherent and sometimes even illogical does not mean that what she is saying is incorrect.
It noted that at the time of the incident, only two male officials were present in the school — the guard and the accused — so the child could not have misidentified the perpetrator.
"The impugned order has missed the crux of the issue, and the issue is as to why a minor child of three years of age would make such a complaint and would not only identify the respondent as the offender but also point out the place of occurrence," the court observed.
"This is a case where about three years old victim narrated the incident to her mother without naming the respondent. Thereafter, she not only identified the respondent but also identified the place where incident took place," it said.
The court stated that there was nothing on record so far that ascribes a motive to implicate the accused. In fact, the CCTV footage established that the accused was present in the school on the day of the incident, it added.
Even refusal to give samples to a doctor cannot benefit the accused at this stage, it said.
With respect to the alleged presence of a female teacher at the time of the incident, the court said the investigating officer will investigate this aspect, adding, it "was too early in the day to release the respondent on bail on these points ignoring the version of the victim."
With the observations, the judge under Section 528 of the BNSS Act set aside the bail order.
Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, appearing for the police, had earlier argued that the trial court should not have given a reprieve to the caretaker.
He submitted that it was a clear case of aggravated penetrative sexual assault under Section 6 of the POCSO Act, which was punishable with a minimum term of 20 years in jail, as the child had already identified the perpetrator and made specific allegations.
The counsel for the accused denied all allegations of sexual assault against him, stating that the "foundational facts" of the present case cannot be sustained.
The incident came to light on May 1 when the girl's mother filed a complaint at Janakpuri police station, alleging that her daughter was sexually assaulted during school hours by the accused.
According to the complaint, the child had gone to the school on April 30, the second day after her admission.
After returning home, she complained of pain. When questioned by her mother, the girl said that she was taken to an isolated area in the school, where the man allegedly assaulted her.
Based on the complaint by the child's mother, police registered a case under section 64(1) (punishment for rape) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and section 6 (Punishment for aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of the POCSO Act.
Police said the child identified the accused, following which the school caretaker was arrested on May 1. He was later produced before a court and sent to judicial custody.
However, he was granted bail by a court in Dwarka on May 7 despite strong opposition from the prosecution.
A teacher was also arrested for allegedly concealing the incident from the authorities and was remanded to daylong police custody by the trial court on May 14.
The police's plea against the trial court order granting her bail in the case is pending in the high court.
