Bombay HC Blames Victim, Grants Bail To Adoptive Father Accused Of Raping Her [Read Order]

 The Bombay High Court has granted bail to a man accused of sexually assaulting his step-daughter. The reasoning given for the bail order is rather unusual- “She has admitted that she used to do all dirty things. It appears that she was inherently abnormal and had sexual instincts right from her childhood, in all probabilities, because of the environment and atmosphere where she lived and the conduct of her deceased mother.”

The above observations were made by the Justice Sadhana Jadhav while hearing a bail application filed by a man charged of offences under S.354 (Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) of the Indian Penal Code and S.8(Punishment for Sexual Assault) of the Protection of Children from Child Sexual Offences Act(POCSO).

The girl’s mother was HIV positive and died in 2006. The prosecution submitted that one Vijay Shetty who works for an NGO which runs the “Childline” for protection of children from sexual abuses, informed the police that he had received a call from one girl who was in need of help and protection at Shabbir Niwas. The complainant had then contacted the Secretary who informed him that “she was adopted by the bail applicant when she was 9 years old. When she was in sixth standard, her adoptive father i.e. the present applicant had sexually abused her and this trauma continued till 9.9.2015” and finally she decided to approach the Childline.

After her mother’s death, the girl was taken to an institution called Fatima Mata Sadan on May 31, 2006. The order states that the Supervisor of the said protective home had observed “unnatural behaviour of the girl, she had received several complaints from the inmates also and, therefore, the Supervisor had taken her into confidence and upon enquiry had found that she had an unwarranted and unnatural behaviour. She was then adopted by the applicant and his wife. The wife of the applicant was acquainted with the girl’s mother. The Supervisor had informed her about the abnormal behaviour of the child. However, the wife of the applicant was hopeful that she would improve her behaviour after she gets love and education.”

It further states that the girl admitted this in a statement wherein - “She has admitted that she used to do all dirty things. It appears that she was inherently abnormal and had sexual instincts right from her childhood, in all probabilities, because of the environment and atmosphere where she lived and the conduct of her deceased mother.”

The order further states that the girl had not disclosed the “act” of the applicant for a “considerable amount of time”.

“The statement of the victim on the basis of which crime is registered, does not appear to be truthful and therefore, does not inspire confidence of this Court. The applicant has been in jail for almost 15 months. The investigation is completed and charge sheet is filed. Hence, the applicant deserves to be enlarged on bail”, states the Order

Read the Order Here.