NEW DELHI: Pointing to a delay of eight hours in lodging a complaint and finding discrepancies in it, Delhi High Court has granted bail to a man accused of trying to sexually assault a minor.
Justice Suresh Kait noted that though the claim in the complaint was that the accused Shiv Chander was intoxicated and beaten on the spot after forcing a two-and-a-half-year-old girl to perform oral sex, the medical report showed nothing.
“This court has seen the CCTV footage and the father of the victim was seen outside the building. The complainant (an acquaintance of the victim’s father) entered the building and within a minute, he was seen catching hold of the petitioner and bringing him out. If such type of heinous crime had taken place, and that too with a two-and-a-half-year-old girl, why was the FIR not registered immediately?” observed justice Kait.
The court flagged the “delay of eight hours in registration of FIR” and the fact that “there was no sign of beating and intoxication in the medico-legal case of the petitioner”. “If the neighbours had beaten the petitioner and he was in a state of intoxication, then the said fact should have come in the MLC, but it does not show any sign of bruises or abrasion, indicating that there was no public beating, which was alleged in the FIR,” the judge noted.
The prosecution said on the day of the alleged crime, the survivor’s father was asked to help a shopkeeper unload goods. The shopkeeper, who is the complainant, saw Chander in an intoxicated state sitting outside the gate of the victim’s room. He later claimed he saw the accused take the victim on the main gate’s side. The zip of his pants was already open and he allegedly heard the accused insisting the survivor perform oral sex.
In his defence, Chander claimed there were major contradictions in the material placed on record as the FIR and the chargesheet were both self-contradictory. He also cited his MLC not showing any sign of intoxication and abrasion. Taking a prima facie view, without commenting on the merits of the case, the court granted him bail.