Observing that the accused “left no alternative for the victim but to take the extreme step”, the Bombay High Court has rejected the bail plea of a man arrested for repeatedly attempting rape his minor cousin who later died by suicide.
The HC was hearing a bail plea filed by a man booked for abetment of suicide of child, outraging modesty of a woman, and various sections of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.
On March 10, 2023, a 14-year-old girl died by suicide. During the investigation, the police came across the victim’s suicide note of the victim blaming the man for her taking the extreme step. The Vinoba Bhave Nagar Police Station in Kurla then registered the FIR and arrested the applicant two days later.
Seeking bail, the applicant contended that none of the victims' relatives have supported the investigating authority's case. In fact, the victim’s mother filed an affidavit stating that since the applicant is her nephew, she has no objection to being released on bail.
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Man’s advocate Nitin Satpute submitted that the material on record, even if accepted in the form of suicide notes and statements of some of the friends of the victim, does not make out the ingredients of the offence under Section 305 (abetment of suicide of child) of the IPC.
The Additional Public Prosecutor relied on the suicide note and the report of the handwriting expert to contend that the applicant is to blame completely for the extreme step taken by the 14-year-old victim.
State’s advocate Megha Bajoria submitted that despite being the victim’s cousin, the applicant had treated her in such a manner that she had no alternative but to commit suicide. Moreover, the victim’s friends had given statements that she had narrated the applicant’s advances and that she looked depressed.
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The court noted that the victim’s suicide note blames the applicant for having left no alternative for her but to take the extreme step of committing suicide. “The suicide note records that when the victim mentioned about the behaviour of the applicant to her parents and relatives, no one believed her and instead they made fun of her,” Justice Manish Pitale said on Thursday.
“It cannot be forgotten that the victim was only 14 years and she was at a sensitive impressionable age, when the actions attributable to the applicant could have had a lasting impact on her mental health,” the judge emphasised while rejecting the bail plea.