A 38-year-old man was granted bail by a special court under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act after his 15-year-old daughter who had made a sexual assault complaint against him, appeared virtually before the court and said that she had made the complaint in anger.
The daughter had not stood by her police complaint in her statement before the magistrate recorded under Sec 164 of the CrPC. Such statements are recorded to make sure that the witnesses are not making their statement under pressure. She was then produced virtually before the court on 2 June after the man’s advocate pointed this out and the court directed the prosecution to produce her before it.
The court said in its order, “In the statement of the victim recorded before the magistrate she has stated that as the applicant was not listening to all the family members in the house and was abusing them, so in heat of anger she lodged report against him...On 2 June 2021, as per direction of the incharge court, victim was virtually produced before this court by prosecution and she stated that no such alleged incident occurred with her and now she wishes that her father be enlarged on bail.”
The father had claimed bail telling the court that he is falsely implicated in the case as he has disputes with his wife. The daughter had been instigated by the wife to make the report, he had stated.
The court considered the man’s brother’s undertaking before it that the man will reside in his home while on bail. While granting him bail, it did so on the condition that the man does not reside in the same home with his daughter until her evidence is recorded in the case and that he would not contact her.