Saduddin Malik, key accused in Hyderabad girl’s gang rape, gets bail

Saduddin Malik, who was lodged in Chanchalguda Central Prison, walked out of the jail on Wednesday night

A special court in Hyderabad on Wednesday granted bail to Saduddin Malik, the prime accused in the gang-rape case of a minor girl in the upscale Jubilee Hills on May 28.

Saduddin Malik, the only adult among the six accused in the gang rape case, was the last person to be released on bail (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Malik, 18, is the only major among the six accused in the case. While four of the juveniles were granted bail by the Juvenile Justice Board on July 26, the fifth accused, also a juvenile, got bail from the Telangana high court on July 27.

Malik, who was lodged in Chanchalguda Central Prison, walked out of the jail on Wednesday night. With Malik’s release, all the six accused in the case are now out on bail.

The designated court for cases under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) granted bail after Malik’s lawyers argued that the Jubilee Hills police have completed its investigation and filed the charge sheet before Nampally criminal court. The lawyer contended that the accused was entitled to bail as per the norms.

The police recorded the statements of 65 witnesses and enclosed the forensic reports (FSL), and DNA test results collected from the accused and from the car used in the crime. The CDs of the CCTV footage, mobile phone call data records, messages and photographs collected from the social media platforms were also included in the charge sheet.

Police registered the first information report (FIR) on May 31, three days after the crime took place. In the FIR, police said the accused forced the minor girl to get into his Mercedes Benz car at the pub on May 28 evening and from there drove the car up to a pastry shop, where she was shifted into a Toyota Innova in which they raped her.

Police registered a case against the accused under sections 376-D (gang rape), 323 (causing injuries) and 376 (kidnapping) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), besides the POCSO Act.

Another case was registered under the Information Technology Act for circulating the pictures and video of the victim while going in the car.