ASHKAR Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner herein has been arrayed as the sole accused in the instant Crime No.1433/2019 of Nedumangad Police Station, which has been registered for offences punishable under Secs.366 and 376 of the IPC and Secs.3, 4, 13 and 14 of the POCSO Act, 2012, on the basis of FIS given by minor victim girl now aged 17 years on 27.8.2019 at about 5.45 p.m. in respect of the alleged incidents which has happened on a day in the last week of February, 2019.

(2.) The prosecution case in short is that, the minor victim girl now aged 17 years is presently studying in Std XI for her Plus Two course and that while she was studying in Std X she was having a love affair with the petitioner accused now aged 20 years, and that on a Saturday in the last week of February, 2019, prior to his annual examinations in Std X, she was taken to the petitioner's house in the morning when no one was there in the house, and there he had sexual intercourse with her. It is also alleged that during the said incident, the petitioner had video graphed the said scenes. It appears that the case of prosecutrix is only a solitary instance of sexual intercourse and later the petitioner had neglected her and abandoned her and she felt cheated and reported to police which led to the registration of the instant crime. The petitioner has been arrested in this case on 30.8.2019, and after his remand he has been under judicial custody since then.

(3.) The counsel for the petitioner would urge that the abovesaid allegations are all false and baseless and that even going by the version of the minor victim girl in the FIS it was a love affair between the parties and that taking into account the fact that the petitioner has suffered detention for the last 68 days, this Court may order to release him on regular bail subject to stringent conditions. It is also pointed out that the alleged incident is said to have happened in the last week of February, 2019, whereas the FIS has been given on 31.7.2019 and FIR has been registered as late as on 27.8.2019 and the prosecution has not given any iota of explanation even remotely explaining the long and unexplained delay, not only as between the alleged incident and alleged submission of FIS but also as between the submission of FIS and registration of crime, and that this would vitiate the impugned criminal proceedings and would raise serious doubts and suspicions about the very credibility and believability of the prosecution case.