POCSO court denies bail to rape accused

A Special POCSO court has rejected the bail application of accused Rehan, charged with physical exploitation of a mentally-retarded minor girl in Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh.

Judge Rajvir Singh observed that though the victim in her statement recorded under section 164 CrPC admitted that the accused had established physical relations with her consent, but since she was below 18 years of age, her consent had no meaning as per provisions of section 375 of Indian Penal Code, therefore, the offence committed by the accused was heinous.

Therefore, without making any comment on the merits of the case, the court was of the opinion that there were not sufficient grounds for bail hence the bail application was liable to be rejected.

ADGC, Sushil Kumar Verma, said the victim's father had stated in his complaint that accused Rehan had established physical relations two to three times with his 16-year-old daughter after which she got pregnant.

He forced her to convert and when the girl's family members opposed, Rehan threatened to kill them and had even thrashed his son.

The defence counsel pleaded that the accused had not committed any crime or offence against the victim or her father but in fact he had given a loan of Rs 20,000 to him.

The complainant had framed him so that he could misappropriate the loan amount. Since the accused has been in jail since May 13 and is innocent therefore, he should be released on bail, the defence counsel said.