LAWS(KER)-2019-8-148

KALID Vs. STATE OF KERALA,

Decided On August 19, 2019
Kalid Appellant
V/S
STATE OF KERALA, Respondents

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner herein has been arrayed as the sole accused in the instant Crime No.416/2018 of Mathilakam Police Station, which has been registered for offences punishable under Secs.7, 8, 9, and 10 of the POCSO Act, on the basis of FIS given by minor victim girl aged 12 years on 10.6.2018 at 5.30 pm in respect of the alleged incidents which have happened for the period from 1.10.2016 to 31.10.2017. The petitioner aged 67 years is the paternal grandfather of the minor victim girl in this case. The petitioner was arrested on 22.7.2019 and has been under judicial custody since then.

(2.) It appears that, the minor victim girl who is now residing in a girls hostel was taken to the doctor for examination on her complaint that she is having serious stomach pain and there she had disclosed to the doctor about the sexual abuse that was meted out to her by another girl student in the same hostel, and also about the sexual abuses suffered by her at the hands of the petitioner herein, who is her paternal grandfather. The allegation in short is that, at the relevant time of incident the minor victim girl was residing along with her father in the residence of the petitioner, who happens to be her paternal grandfather. At that time, he used to abuse her by touching her private parts on quite a few occasions, and that she had then reported these incidents to her father, thereupon the father had shifted the residence, and after the father's re-marriage she was put in a girl's hostel, etc.

(3.) Counsel for the petitioner would point out that the dates of incidents alleged in the FIR and FIS in this case are in the year 2016-2017 and that the FIR and FIS has been registered as late as on 10.6.2018, and that the delay in lodging of abovesaid crime is extremely fatal to the prosecution case. Further that there are no allegations of penetrative sexual assault and taking into account the facts of the case, this Court may order to release him on regular bail subject to stringent conditions, as his continued detention is no longer necessary.