23-ba-1857-2023.doc
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
BAIL APPLICATION NO.1857 OF 2023
Roshan Bengali Ray ...Applicant
vs.
The State of Maharashtra ...Respondent
Mr. Jay Bharadwaj a/w. Mr. Harsh Ramchandani, for the Applicant.
Mr. S.R. Agarkar, APP, for the Respondent/State.
Ms. Apurva Gupte, for Respondent No. 2.
Mr. Nitin Sawant, ASI Bangur Nagar police station.
CORAM : N. J. JAMADAR, J.
DATE : FEBRUARY 29, 2024
P.C.:
1. Heard the learned counsel for the parties.
2. The applicant, who is arraigned in C.R. No. 63 of 2023
registered with Bangur Nagar police station for the offences
punishable under section 354 of Indian Penal Code, 1860 and
sections 8 and 12 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences
Act, 2012, has preferred this application to enlarge him on bail.
3. The indictment against the applicant is that on 6th February,
2023 at about 00.30 hours while the victim – a five year old
daughter of the first informant, was sitting beside the applicant in
the BEST bus, the applicant had committed sexual assault by
pulling the hand of the victim and making her to keep it on his
private part. The applicant had allegedly pulled down his trouser
and the undergarment of the victim and inappropriately touched
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the private part of the victim. The first informant noticed the acts
and raised alarm. The other relatives of the first informant, co-
passengers, conductor and driver of the bus came near the seat on
which the applicant and the victim were sitting. The applicant was
allegedly caught red handed with his pant down. The bus driver
took the bus to Bangur Nagar police station and the applicant was
apprehended.
4. The learned counsel for the applicant submitted that the
applicant has been falsely roped in on the basis of suspicion.
Though, a number of witnesses including the co-passengers,
conductor and driver of the bus have stated about the alleged
occurrence yet, the similarity of their versions indicates that their
statements have been recorded in a mechanical manner. It was
further submitted that none of the offences with which the
applicant has been charged entails punishment exceeding five
years. Therefore, the applicant deserves to be released on bail.
5. The learned APP resisted the prayer for bail. It was submitted
that the applicant was caught in the act of sexual assault of a five
year old child not only by the relatives of the victim but the co-
passengers, conductor and driver of the bus.
6. Ms. Gupte, learned counsel who was appointed to espouse the
cause of respondent No. 2 also resisted the prayer for bail. Attention
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of the Court was invited to the statements of the co-passengers who
had allegedly seen the applicant in the act.
7. The victim has narrated the act of sexual assault, she was
allegedly subjected to by the applicant. Prima facie, the version of
the victim and the first informant finds support in the statements of
co-passengers, conductor and driver of the bus. The witnesses have
consistently stated that in front of Goregaon bus depot a lady raised
alarm. That attracted their attention towards the applicant and the
victim. They claimed to have found the applicant with his trouser
down.
8. I find substance that the submission of learned APP and the
learned counsel for the victim that, at this stage, there is no reason
to discard the statements of the witnesses as mechanical. Prima
facie, there is overwhelming material to show the complicity of the
applicant. Having regard to the age of the victim, this does not seem
to be a fit case to exercise the discretion in favour of the applicant
especially in view of the time and place of the occurrence. An
unsuspecting small child was allegedly sexually exploited in a
public transport. Therefore, the application deserves to be rejected.
Hence, the following order.
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ORDER
1] The application stands rejected.
2] By way of abundant caution, it is clarified that the
observations made hereinabove are confined for the purpose
of determination of the entitlement for bail and they may not
be construed as an expression of opinion on the guilt or
otherwise of the applicant and the trial Court shall not be
influenced by any of the observations made hereinabove.
(N. J. JAMADAR, J.)
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