NITIN KUMAR Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner, the learned High Court Government Pleader and perused the records.

(2.) The petitioner stands trial for the offences punishable under sections 363, 376 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 ['IPC', for short] and section 6 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, in S.C. No.40/2019 on the file of the II Additional District and Sessions Judge, Davanagere District, Davanagere, and the petitioner's application under section 439 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 ['Cr.PC', for short] in Criminal Misc. No.1250/2019 is rejected by Order dated 18.01.2020. This application by the petitioner is the first application for bail but is filed midcourse the trial. As such, the petitioner is before this Court.

(3.) The prosecution's case against the petitioner is that the complainant's only daughter, aged about 16 as of 28.11.2018, did not return home from the College. The victim could not be located, and the petitioner, also from the same village, was not to be seen. On 20.12.2018, the petitioner and the victim were found at Hosadurga, Chitradurga District. The petitioner was taken into custody; between 28.11.2018 and 20.12.2018, the petitioner and the victim underwent marriage ceremony in a Temple at Hulugi Village. They resided together as husband and wife; initially with the petitioner's sister's family and later at a Coffee Estate at Mudagiri, Chikkamagaluru District. The petitioner has had physical intimacy with the victim during this time and as such, the petitioner is guilty of the offences mentioned in the charge sheet.