Indore Bangle-Seller Who Was Thrashed By Mob Granted Bail By Madhya Pradesh High Court In POCSO Case

Ali, who has been accused of sexually harassing a Class 6 student was granted bail by the Bench of Justice Sujoy Paul noting that the nature of the accusation against him is not such which leads to a conclusion that he should remain in custody till the decision in the case.

It may be noted that Ali was arrested on August 23 on charges of molestation and forgery, two days after he was beaten up by a mob on the allegation that he had used a forged document to sell bangles in Indore's Govind Nagar and there he had molested a 14-year-old girl.

A video of him being thrashed had gone viral on social media, wherein he was seen being beaten up by a group of men who accused him of harassing women on the pretext of selling bangles on the occasion of Rakhi.

On the very next day, the minor daughter of one of the persons from the mob had accused Ali of sexual harassment.

Thereafter, he was booked under Sections 354, 354-A, 467, 468, 471, 420, 506 of the Indian Penal Code & Section 7/8 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and was taken into custody and he remained there since then (August 23, 08 2021).

Submissions made before the Court

It was submitted before the Court that while selling the bangles, Ali was abused, threatened and assaulted by certain hooligans on August 23, 2021. The applicant lodged a report at Police Station – Banganga, Indore on the same day at 13:45.

It was further claimed that as a counterblast, the person, who threatened the applicant cooked up a story that while selling the bangles, he had sexually assaulted a minor girl and as an afterthought, it was submitted, cross F.I.R. was lodged on the same date at 6:00 pm.

The counsel for the objector contended that if Ali is granted bail, he may flee from justice and it would be difficult for the prosecution to recover him.

In his rejoinder submission, Ali's Counsel placed reliance on certain photographs filed with the application and urged that Ali was badly beaten by the hooligans and he further prayed that CD filed along with the application may also be perused which will separate the wheat from the chaff and will make it clear as to who has actually committed the offence.

Court's order

At the outset, the Court noted that when the prosecution reached Ali's original residence in U.P., he was actually found to be residing in a 'Pradhanmantri Awas Yojana' house wherein his name is shown as Asleem S/o Mohar Singh.

Therefore, noting that the prosecution has already reached the permanent residence of the applicant, the Court observed that the question of him fleeing from justice does not arise.

Further, noting that no criminal antecedents of the applicant could be shown to the Court and that there is no material to show that he was instrumental in threatening the persons/complainant, etc, the Court thought it fit to release him on bail.

Case title - Golu @ Tasneem @ Taslim v/s The State of Madhya Pradesh

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