Delhi HC cancels bail of man accused of raping minor daughter

New Delhi Sep 18 (PTI) The Delhi High Court has called it an "unfortunate and shocking" case and cancelled the bail of a man, accused of repeatedly raping his minor daughter and forcing her to watch porn.

Justice Neena Bansal Krishna noted that the allegations against the man were of such serious nature that he was alleged to be a sex addict and habituated to watching pornographic videos.

The court, therefore, set aside a trial court order, which granted bail to the man and observed the reprieve came in "a serious offence in June 2021" just nine days after registration of the FIR.

Additional sessions judge, the high court said, failed to consider the material facts and aspects and had granted the relief on erroneous and misplaced grounds.

"It has been completely overlooked that according to the prosecutrix (victim), she was being subjected to such depraved acts of her father for about five years, since she was about ten years old. Merely because they separated about a year before the registration of FIR, would not take away the acts of alleged sexual abuse over a period of time," the order passed on September 16 said.

The high court directed the man to surrender before the trial court within seven days.

The court said there cannot be anything more grave than a child being abused by her own father, who gave her birth and holds the pious duty and responsibility of ensuring her safety.

According to the prosecution, the accused man subjected his daughter to inappropriate touching, forced viewing of pornography and rape.

It came on record that the girl's ordeal began when she was around 10-years old and continued for nearly six years.

The father was arrested in 2021 and granted bail by a trial court on June 15 the same year.

The minor girl, through her mother, challenged the trial court's bail order before the high court.

Advocates Kapil Madan and Gurmukh Singh Arora, representing the minor girl, said the bail was granted on entirely irrelevant material ignoring the gravity and the nature of the offences.

Whenever she tried to inform about her sexual abuse to her paternal grandparents who lived in the same house, she was reprimanded and they were not inclined to believe her, they added.

When she partially narrated the incident to her mother, the mother was severely beaten by the accused father.

However, the man argued that the charges were fabricated to support the mother’s parallel legal battle in their matrimonial dispute and that there was a significant delay in registering the complaint.

The high court's order said "It is an unfortunate case of physical and sexual exploitation of the petitioner by none other than her own father, since she was about 10 years old, when she attained puberty." The order underlined the girl's "young age and vulnerability" coupled with father’s abusive and violent behaviour towards both her and her mother" that prevented her from disclosing the ongoing abuse.

The persistent atmosphere of fear at home prevented the petitioner from confiding in her mother or seeking help from any other person, it added.

The court referred to the details of specific instances in the complaint which indicated "glaring incidents of blatant sexual abuse" of a child.

"Significantly, the child has made specific allegations that her father was a sex addict and used to compel her to see with him the pornographic films on his mobile phone," it noted.

The order said prima facie, the allegations were corroborated from the forensic report of the mobile phone, which confirmed the presence of obscene videos in it.

"There cannot be anything more perverse and shocking than such acts of the father, if found to be correct and true," the judge said. PTI SKV SKV AMK AMK