HC grants bail to community leader arrested in sexual assault case

The Bombay High Court granted bail to a Catholic leader accused of sexually assaulting a minor, citing delays and lack of evidence in the case.

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Thursday granted bail to a Catholic community leader from Palghar, arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a minor boy. The court noted that the case, registered in 2020, pertained to incidents that allegedly occurred between 2007 and 2012, and granted bail to the accused on account of the prolonged delay in registration of the FIR and lack of corroborative evidence.

HC grants bail to community leader arrested in sexual assault case

The accusations stemmed from the suicide of a young boy in 2016, who, according to the prosecution, endured years of sexual abuse during his school days. A suicide note attributed to the deceased and verified through handwriting analysis, implicated several individuals, including the accused. The note also alleged systematic abuse of schoolboys, aged 12 to 14, by the community leaders.

Despite the note and subsequent allegations, the FIR was registered only in 2020, following the intervention of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The victim’s family claimed that threats and coercion by the accused delayed their efforts to seek justice. They also alleged that evidence, such as notebooks containing incriminating details, had been destroyed by the accused.

Statements from witnesses, including a spiritual consultant, suggested prior incidents of misconduct by the accused during his training period, which reportedly led to oral warnings but no formal action.

However, the defence, led by advocates Satyavrat Joshi and Samay Pawar, argued that the accusations were baseless and motivated by ulterior motives. They emphasised the long gap between the alleged offences and the filing of the complaint, as well as the lack of direct evidence linking the accused to the victim’s suicide.

The defence highlighted that the accused had cooperated with the investigation, including undergoing polygraph and brain-mapping tests, which reportedly revealed no incriminating findings. They also noted that the suicide note did not explicitly name the accused and that no other students had come forward to corroborate the allegations.

Justice Anil S. Kilor granted bail to the accused in view of the inconsistencies in the prosecution’s narrative, including the eight-year delay in filing the FIR and the absence of contemporaneous complaints during or after the period of alleged abuse.

The court observed that the timeline of events did not establish a proximate link between the alleged abuse and the victim’s suicide, raising doubts about the applicability of section 306 of the IPC (abetment of suicide).

While acknowledging the seriousness of the charges, the court emphasised that bail could not be denied solely on the basis of the gravity of the allegations without substantial evidence. Justice Kilor further stated that stringent conditions would be imposed to prevent potential interference with the ongoing judicial process.