Srinagar, Oct 7: The High Court of Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday granted conditional bail to an accused of kidnapping and rape maintaining that there is no prima facie ground that the accused had committed the crime.
The High Court today granted bail
with certain conditions to a person accused in the rape of a minor girl. Justice
Sanjay Dhar while granting bail to one Ishfaq Ahmad Khan said that without
commenting upon the merits of the case, lest it may prejudice the case of the
prosecution, it appears that, prima facie, foundational facts that would give
rise to the presumption under Section 29 of the POCSO Act against the
petitioner, are not established in this case, a local media report said.
“Thus, prima facie, it appears that
the presumption of guilt against the accused, in these circumstances, may not
get triggered meaning thereby that there is no prima facie ground to believe
that the petitioner has committed the alleged crime”, the court said in his order.
The judge said that the court below
while rejecting the bail application of the petitioner has not taken the trouble to
even apply his mind to the statements made by the victim and her father under
Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).
"The material on record,
as already discussed, clearly distinguishes the cases of the two accused. While
the victim and her father have clearly implicated the co-accused but at the same
time, they have stated nothing against the petitioner. This clear distinction
between the cases of two accused has been missed by Special Judge while
rejecting bail application of the petitioner”, Court said.
The court said the trial judge instead
of applying his judicial mind to the material on record, has concentrated more
on the impact of the alleged crime on women education and considering the
impact of a crime on the society, a Court, while deciding a bail application,
has to form a prima facie opinion as to the involvement of the applicant in the
alleged crime by applying its mind to the material on record.
The court concluded that the applicant deserves to be admitted to bail and accordingly directed him to furnish a personal bond in the amount of Rs.50,000 with one surety of the like amount to the satisfaction of the trial court and appear before the trial court on each and every date of hearing with the direction to him not to leave the territorial limits of Union Territory of J&K without prior permission of the trial court.