MUMBAI: In a relief to a flyer convicted for an offence of sexual assault on a child actor mid-air, Bombay high court on Tuesday granted him bail after admitting his appeal against the guilty verdict of a trial court.
The appeal by a former entertainment firm executive, Vikas Sachdeva came up before a bench of Justice Prithviraj Chavan of the high court who suspended the sentence and granted bail of Rs 25,000 with two solvent sureties of like amount.
The high court also directed that he cannot leave the city without court permission.
A special trial court judge A D Deo had on January 15 held Sachdeva, 41, guilty under section 8 under of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act. The accusation was that he put his foot and touched a 17-year-old co-passenger, sitting in front in the business class, on her shoulder and neck on a flight from Delhi to Mumbai in December 2017. The trial court relied on the complainant’s deposition to nail him.
The trial court had sentenced him to three years’ imprisonment fined him Rs 25,000 but granted him bail under the provisions of law.
Justice Chavan first asked why should a Pocso victim be disbelieved and why would she lie.
Sachdeva’s counsel Aniket Nikam argued that there was "no independent evidence to support the case of the victim and her deposition is shrouded with omissions and improvements". He submitted that there is "contradiction between the version of the complainant and other eyewitnesses," and that crew members had "categorically deposed" that the accused was found sleeping throughout the flight and no such incident was noticed by them.
Nikam also submitted that the victim herself or her mother never made any complaint to the crew members while on the flight and added that it was only after social media post that the police lodged the crime.
He argued that the bail granted was to him and he deserved bail pending the hearing of his appeal.
The prosecutor opposed the grant of bail saying it was a serious case under Pocso. The first appeal against conviction is admitted as a right but the flyer wanted his bail to continue.
His appeal, however, challenged the conviction on various grounds, including that it is wrong on the appreciation of facts, circumstances and the evidence, produced during trial.
The argument was also that it was "unlikely that leg would have touched the victims shoulder taking into consideration the distance between the two business class seats" It was submitted that the fact that there was a lot of space on the right and left side of the seat after the "victim occupied the said seat" must be considered.
"Leg cannot be like a snake and take turns in the fashion in which it is alleged," said Nikam.
The conviction is "contrary to the established principles of law," and that the trial court has "erred" as it "overlooked glaring contradiction omission, as well as admissions and improvements that were brought to the notice of the Judge”, said the appeal.
"Judgment is based totally on hypothecation, imagination, conjuncture and surmises and not at all on the evidence on record," added the appeal. The flyer was in custody for 11 days after his arrest on December 10, 2017, and has been on bail since.
The trial court had while convicting him said, "The incident as deposed by the victim of inappropriate explicit touch by male accused in the journey is a very common sexual assault experience by every common woman travelling in public transport. The present case would reflect that such experience is not an exception in the most elite mode of transportation, that too in business class".
The appeal by a former entertainment firm executive, Vikas Sachdeva came up before a bench of Justice Prithviraj Chavan of the high court who suspended the sentence and granted bail of Rs 25,000 with two solvent sureties of like amount.
The high court also directed that he cannot leave the city without court permission.
A special trial court judge A D Deo had on January 15 held Sachdeva, 41, guilty under section 8 under of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act. The accusation was that he put his foot and touched a 17-year-old co-passenger, sitting in front in the business class, on her shoulder and neck on a flight from Delhi to Mumbai in December 2017. The trial court relied on the complainant’s deposition to nail him.
The trial court had sentenced him to three years’ imprisonment fined him Rs 25,000 but granted him bail under the provisions of law.
Justice Chavan first asked why should a Pocso victim be disbelieved and why would she lie.
Sachdeva’s counsel Aniket Nikam argued that there was "no independent evidence to support the case of the victim and her deposition is shrouded with omissions and improvements". He submitted that there is "contradiction between the version of the complainant and other eyewitnesses," and that crew members had "categorically deposed" that the accused was found sleeping throughout the flight and no such incident was noticed by them.
Nikam also submitted that the victim herself or her mother never made any complaint to the crew members while on the flight and added that it was only after social media post that the police lodged the crime.
He argued that the bail granted was to him and he deserved bail pending the hearing of his appeal.
The prosecutor opposed the grant of bail saying it was a serious case under Pocso. The first appeal against conviction is admitted as a right but the flyer wanted his bail to continue.
His appeal, however, challenged the conviction on various grounds, including that it is wrong on the appreciation of facts, circumstances and the evidence, produced during trial.
The argument was also that it was "unlikely that leg would have touched the victims shoulder taking into consideration the distance between the two business class seats" It was submitted that the fact that there was a lot of space on the right and left side of the seat after the "victim occupied the said seat" must be considered.
"Leg cannot be like a snake and take turns in the fashion in which it is alleged," said Nikam.
The conviction is "contrary to the established principles of law," and that the trial court has "erred" as it "overlooked glaring contradiction omission, as well as admissions and improvements that were brought to the notice of the Judge”, said the appeal.
"Judgment is based totally on hypothecation, imagination, conjuncture and surmises and not at all on the evidence on record," added the appeal. The flyer was in custody for 11 days after his arrest on December 10, 2017, and has been on bail since.
The trial court had while convicting him said, "The incident as deposed by the victim of inappropriate explicit touch by male accused in the journey is a very common sexual assault experience by every common woman travelling in public transport. The present case would reflect that such experience is not an exception in the most elite mode of transportation, that too in business class".
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