SHIVAMURTHY MURUGHA SHARANARU Vs. STATE OF KARNATAKA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Criminal Petition No.5031/2023 is filed under Sec. 439 of Cr.P.C ., Criminal Appeal No.1230/2023 is filed under Sec. 14(A)(2) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 (hereina fter referred to as 'Atrocities Act' for short), challenging the order dtd. 31/1/2023 in Crl.Misc.No.1394/2022. The petitioner in Crl.P.No .5031/2023 and the appellant in Crl.A.No.1230/2023 is the same person (he is referred to accused No.1 for the sake of convenience). He filed two criminal miscellaneous petitions 1394/2022 and 1395/2022 under Sec. 439 of Cr.P .C., before the II Additional District and Sessions Judge and Special Court, Chitradurga, seeking bail and as they were dismissed, he has approached this court. As two cases arise out of FIR No.387/2022 registered by Rural Police Station , Chitradurga, they are disposed of by a common order.

(2.) The prosecution case, stated briefly, is as follows: Two girls, A and B were inmates of Akkamahadevi Hostel run by Murugharajendra Mutt, Chitradurga when they were students of a high school. On 24/7/2022 , A and B left the hostel around 04.30pm and reached Bengaluru around 10.00pm. An auto rickshaw driver took them to Cottonpet police station. The police telephoned Smt. Soubhagya Basavarajan of Chitradurga, who came over to Bengaluru around 04.00am on 25.07 .2022 and took the girls to Chitradurga. The girls stayed in her house for a few days and during their stay in her house, the girls disclosed about the sexual harassment on them by accused No.1 who is the head of Murugharajendra Mutt being a pontiff. On 26/8/2022 , Smt. Soubhagyamma took the girls to an organization called 'Odanadi' at Mysuru. As the girls revealed of sexual harassment on them, the office bearers of Odanadi produced the girls be fore the Child Welfare Committee, Mysuru. After the counseling of the girls, the Probation Of ficer, Mysuru District, pursuant to an order passed by the District Child Welfare Officer, Mysuru made a report to Nazarabad police station at 10 .30pm on 26/8/2022 about sexual harassment on the two girls. Based on the report, FIR was registered in Crime No.155/2022 at Nazarabad police station, Mysuru, for the offences punishable under Sec. 376(2) of IPC, Sec. 5(l) read with Sec. 6 and Sec. 17 of the POCSO Act. In this report apart from implicating accused No.1, there were also allegations against Basavadithya, Gangadharaiah, an Advocate by profession, Smt. Rashmi, the warden of the hostel and one Paramashivaiah. It is stated that these persons helped accused No.1 commit sexual abuse on the girls. Later-on the FIR registered at Mysuru was transferred to Chitradurga Rural police station as the latter police station had territorial jurisdiction. Chitradurga Rural police registered FIR in Crime No .387/2022. The investigation led to filing of charge sheet for the offences under Ss. 376(2)(n), 376(DA), 376(3), 201, 202 and 506 read with Ss. 34 and 37 of IPC, Sec. 5(l) read with Sec. 6 and Sec. 17 of the POCSO Act, Sec. 3(1)(w)(i)(ii) and Sec. 3(2)(v)(va) o f SC/ST Act, Sec. 3(f) and Sec. 7 of Religious Institutions (Prevention of Misuse) Act, 1988 and Sec. 75 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015. Since one of the girls belongs to scheduled caste, the provisions of Atrocities Act were invoked.

(3.) I have heard the arguments of Sri C.V .Nagesh, learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of Sri Sandeep Patil learned counsel for accused No.1 and Sri B.N.Jagadeesh, learned Additional State Public Prosecutor for respondents No.1 and 2/State, Sri Srinivasa D C, learned counsel for respondent No.3 in Crl.A.No .1230/2023 and Smt. Deepa J, learned counsel for respondent No.3 in Crl.P.No.5031/2023 .