IMRAN IQBAL SHAIKH Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an Application under sec. 439 of Cr.P.C. filed by the aforesaid Applicant who is facing trial in Special Case No.148/2021 pending on the the file of learned Special Jude under POCSO Act, Borivali (Div.), Dindoshi, Goregaon, Mumbai. The said case arises from C.R.No.06/2021 registered with Dindoshi Police Station, Mumbai for offences punishable under Sec. 363, 376 of the Indian Penal Code and sec. 4 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012.

(2.) Heard learned counsel for the Applicant, learned APP for the State and learned counsel for the Intervenor. I have perused the records and considered the submissions advanced by the learned counsel for the respective parties.

(3.) The aforesaid crime was registered pursuant to the FIR lodged by the mother of the victim. The FIR reveals that the victim had left the house on 27/12/2020 and had not returned. The first informant suspected that some persons were involved in kidnapping her daughter. Hence, crime came to be registered for offences punishable under Sec. 363 and 367 of the Indian Penal Code. Subsequently, the victim was traced. Her statement reveals that she had left the house on 27/12/2020. She stayed with her friend for two to three days. Since she had left the house without informing her parents, she was scared to return home. She did not return home and she claims that during day time she roamed around the place near her house and she slept in a rickshaw at night. She claims that on 29/12/2020, while she was sleeping in a rickshaw, the Applicant called her to the terrace of SRA building near Kodarmal Masjid and had forcible sexual relationship with her. She claims that on 07/01/2021, the Applicant once again had sexual relationship with her.