Bombay High Court grants bail, suspends sentence of man convicted for sexual assault of 11-year-old boy

The Bombay High Court recently granted bail and suspended the sentence of a man in his fifties who had been charged and convicted of sexually abusing a 11-year-old boy in 2016 [Mohd. Salim Noor Mohd. Shaikh vs. State of Maharashtra & Anr.]..Justice Prakash Naik noted that the evidence of a constable who was attached to the police station where the first information report (FIR) was registered, was contrary to the evidence given by the other witnesses. "From the evidence of victim it is clear that the accused was not known to the victim. It is not clear as to how the accused was present at the Police Station. The said witness (police constable) also does not refer to any information being provided by the victim about penetration," the Court said..The case of the prosecution was that the survivor was subjected to sexual assault by the accused. On April 8, 2016, the father of the boy returned home after work and noticed that he was uneasy. His father had a conversation with him and the boy divulged that the accused had earlier that day took him to mobile shop and subjected him to unnatural sexual assault. He was reportedly subjected to such sexual assault 5 to 6 times. Therefore, the complainant approached the police and lodged the FIR. A Special POSCO Court in 2019 convicted and sentenced the accused to 10 years in jail. The accused appealed against the same which is pending..Advocate PV Nayak, for the accused, submitted that the applicant had already spent six years in jail during which he filed an appeal against his conviction. He pointed out that there were serious discrepancies in the evidence of all the witnesses and argued that since the appeal may not come up for hearing immediately, the accused deserves to have his sentence suspended and be released on bail.Assistant Public Prosecutor PN Dabholkar submitted that the survivor-boy was subjected to sexual assault by the accused and there was enough evidence to convict him for the same.Advocate Kartik Garg for the survivor supported the submissions of Dabholkar. He added that there were repeated instances of sexual assault and the evidence of the survivor child was supported by medical evidence. He concluded by stating that there were several circumstances which completed the chain to show the involvement of the accused in the crime..After hearing both the parties and examining the evidence on record, Justice Naik observed that the report of the medical officer was not conclusive.He added that evidence given by the police constable who recorded the survivor's statement was contrary to evidence provided by other witnesses.She had deposed that the boy did not know the accused by name and only identified him by his face at the police station after his medical examination. Naik mused how the accused was present at the police station.Therefore, opining that a case for suspension of sentence and bail was made out, the single-judge suspended the accused's sentence and released him on bail on executing a bail bond of ₹25,000 with at least one surety of like amount. The applicant has to attend the trial court once in six months on the first Saturday of each month till the final disposal of his appeal against the special court verdict..[Read Order]