‘No Sane Man Would Believe It’: Bombay HC Grants Bail To Man Accused Of Raping Woman In Broad Daylight At Juhu Chowpatty On Id-Ul-Fitra

The bench of Justice Prithviraj K. Chavan stated, “Since the victim was major at the time of alleged offence, prima facie, it does not appeal to ones mind that in a broad day light at a crowded Juhu Chowpatty on the day Id-Ul-Fitra, the applicant would commit forcible sexual intercourse with the victim. No sane man would believe it.”

Advocate Nazneen Khatri appeared for Applicant and Advocate Ashish Satpute appeared for the State.

Brief Facts-

The victim is a housemaid whose radiological age was more than 19 years, befriended the security guard. Admittedly, the friendship turned into a love affair. However, it was alleged that the applicant threatened her of dire consequences and forcibly took her at Juhu Chowpatty and behind the stones had forcible sexual intercourse with her.

Thereafter, the Applicant was arrested for the offences under Sections 376(2)(n), 354, 354(D), 506 of the Indian Penal Code and under Section 12 of the POCSO Act.

Admittedly, an x-ray report of the victim submitted by APP revealed that radiologically age of the victim is more than 19 years but less than 20 years. Hence, the Court noted that she is not a minor, therefore no question of invoking POCSO Act.

The Court further noted that the statement of the victim under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure recorded by the Metropolitan Magistrate revealed that the victim and the applicant were friends.

The Court stated that there was no likelihood of bringing the trial to its logical end as no charges were framed by the trial Court as more than 2 years passed since his arrest.

Consequently, the Court granted bail.

Cause Title: Baharul Islam Mujibur Rehman Laskar v. The State of Maharashtra (Neutral Citation: 2024:BHC-AS:14795)

Appearance:

Appellant: Adv. Nazneen Khatri

Respondent: APP Ashish Satpute, Adv. Subir U. Sarkar, Adv. Arun Sawnat

Click here to read/download Judgment