Bail plea of accused held for molestation rejected

THANE: The Thane sessions court rejected the bail applications of an auto driver and another man who were arrested for molesting a 23-year-old passenger last year and pushing her out of moving auto.
In his order, the sessions court judge R V Jatale said, “The release of accused would demoralize not only the victim and her family, but will also send out a wrong message to the society.”

The accused, Santosh Lokhande and Lahu Goghare were arrested on June 8, 2017. The victim had caught the share auto from Mulund at 9.30pm. There was a male passenger already sitting in the auto.

As the auto rickshaw went a bit ahead, the co-passenger started touching her inappropriately. When the woman objected and raised an alarm, the auto driver took a turn and drove towards Pokhran Road 2.

The duo then beat up the woman and pushed her out of the vehicle.

The Naupada police subsequently arrested the duo and since then they have been lodged in jail.

The duo, in their plea, sought bail on the ground that the investigation is complete and a chargesheet has been filed.

Prosecutor Dilip Bahiram contested the plea on the ground that the offence is serious and the auto driver continued to drive knowing that the co-accused was outraging the modesty of a woman inside his auto. “If he was innocent, he should have stopped the auto, but he did not,” Bahiram said.

The judge, after hearing both sides, said, “Appraisal of the entire chargesheet, including investigation papers, clearly reveals that the offence is serious and the sentence may run up to life.

“The offence is terrorizing the working women and the victim has sustained injuries. She is bound to be under shock and trauma. The release of accused would demoralize not only the victim and her family, but will also send out a wrong message to society. It is therefore, I find that the application is devoid of merit and liable to be rejected,” the judge stated in his order.