"Love affair” has no bearing on grant of bail in POCSO case: Supreme Court sets aside Jharkhand High Court order

The Supreme Court on Monday set aside an order of the Jharkhand High Court granting bail in a Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act case citing a “love affair” between the accused and the prosecutrix [X (Minor) v. State of Jharkhand]..A Bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Surya Kant noted that there was a manifest error in the order of the High Court allowing the bail application.“...both the grounds, namely that “there was a love affair” between the appellant and the second respondent as well as the alleged refusal to marry, are circumstances which will have no bearing on the grant of bail,” it was recorded..The complainant in the case was a minor aged about 13 years when the alleged incident occurred. It was claimed that the accused took her to a residential hotel and had a sexual relationship with her under the pretext of marriage. He later refused to marry her and allegedly sent obscene videos to her father..The anticipatory bail filed by the accused was rejected by the POCSO Special Judge. However, after the chargesheet was filed, the High Court granted him bail. The following reasoning was recorded in the order under challenge:“It appears from the statement under Section 164 Cr.P.C. as well as the averments made in the FIR that there was a love affair between the petitioner and the informant and the case appears to have been instituted only on the point of refusal of the petitioner to solemnize marriage with the informant.”.The Supreme Court, on hearing the parties, opined that the reasoning of the High Court was specious, and considering both the gravity of the offence and the age of the prosecutrix, a case for grant of bail had not been established.“The order of the High Court granting bail has to be interfered with since the circumstances which prevailed with the High Court are extraneous in view of the age of the prosecutrix, having regard to the provisions,” the Court thus ruled..While setting aside the order, the Court asked the POCSO Special Judge to complete the trial within six months..Senior Advocate Anand Grover, Advocate-on-Record Fauzia Shakil and Advocate Tripti Tandon appeared for the prosecutrix. Additional Advocate General Rajiv Singh and Advocates Vishnu Sharma, Adyashree Dutta and Jayant Mohan appeared for the State. Advocate Rajesh Ranjan represented the accused..[Read Order]