Chhattisgarh HC Grants Bail to Minor in POCSO Case
Court cites education, mental health, and social report; victim’s parents raise no objection
Raipur: In a significant development, Chhattisgarh high court has granted bail to a minor, facing charges of abduction and rape of a 14-year-old girl, citing his education, mental health and social status report. The single bench of Justice Sanjay Kumar Jaiswal set aside the lower courts’ orders denying him bail in the case under POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act and granted him bail while directing his father, who is the surety, to give an undertaking that his son will not come in association with ‘bad elements’ and he will report to the police station if his son gets involved in any unlawful activity.
The POCSO case was registered in the Balod police station in the state in February this year. The victim’s mother filed the FIR against the juvenile alleging that he had abducted her 14-year-old daughter and later established physical relation with her. The juvenile was under observation since February 16. Later, his father moved the high court challenging the denial of bail to his son by the lower courts.
The high court has also taken into consideration the social status report filed by the probation officer, while granting bail to the minor boy in the case. The report filed by the probation officer said the parents of the juvenile are daily wage earners and lived in a village along with their son. The juvenile was a regular Class eleven student in a government higher secondary school and has resided in a government tribal hostel since Class six.
The report said the juvenile’s kin, and acquaintances have found his behavior good and has no past criminal records. It said the juvenile and the victim had a friendship and romantic relationship and used to talk on the phone. The public prosecutor however opposed the bail saying that the forensic report is still awaited. The parents of the victim, appearing through video conferencing from the concerned district legal service authority, did not oppose the bail to the juvenile.