BHASKAR BEHERA Vs. STATE OF ORISSA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner, accused of having committed rape on a minor girl aged 15 years has filed this application for bail, his prayer having been rejected by the learned Sessions Judge Balasore.

(2.) The prosecution allegation as borne out from the FIR is that on 28-6-1998, the victim girl (name withheld), aged 15 years, had been to Sajanagarh with her two minor sisters to witness car festival, On that day, it is alleged, the petitioner forcibly took her behind a cabin and sexually molested her. On return to village she narrated the incident to her mother, where after a written report was lodged at Nilagiri Police Station on the basis of which a case under Sec, 376, IPC was registered. During investigation, the petitioner was apprehended and forwarded to the Court of the S.D.J.M. Nilagiri. He moved that Court for bail and the same having been rejected, he approached the learned Sessions Judge, Balasore, which also met with the same fate, Hence, the present application.

(3.) Learned Counsel appearing for the petitioner in course of argument submitted that the victim girl in her statement recorded under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (for short the CodeT) has not supported what she is alleged to have stated in the FIR and therefore in absence of any material that she was subjected to rape and more particularly by the petitioner, his prayer for bail should be allowed.