The Supreme Court refused to interfere with the high court order of denying bail
New Delhi:
The Supreme Court has refused bail relief to an Uttarakhand boy, who allegedly shot obscene videos of his 14-year-old classmate and circulated. The girl went missing from her home in October last year and was later found dead. She is suspected to have died by suicide.
The girl’s father said in his complaint that she died by suicide out of shame. The boy has been charged with IPC sections relating to abetment of suicide of a child and act intended to outrage modesty of a woman. Relevant sections under the stringent Protection Of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act have also been invoked.
Earlier, the juvenile justice board and the High Court of Uttarakhand refused bail to the teenaged accused, after which his mother approached the Supreme Court. The matter came up yesterday before a vacation bench of Justice Bela M Trivedi and Justice Pankaj Mithal.
“After carefully perusing the material placed on record, we are not inclined to interfere with the impugned order passed by the high court at this stage,” the bench said.
Denying bail to the teenager, the high court had said, “Bail may be denied if there are reasonable grounds for believing that his release is likely to bring the ‘child in conflict with law’ into the association of any known criminal, expose him to moral, physical, or psychological danger, or if his release would defeat the ends of justice.”
“Having considered the social investigation report, the medical examination report, the report from the school, this court is of the view that the best interest of the child would be served if he is not granted bail. If he is released on bail, it would definitely defeat the ends of justice,” the high court order states.
The Supreme Court’s denial of bail in this case comes amid the nationwide outrage on the relief granted to a 17-year-old accused of speeding a Porsche in Pune, leading to an accident that left two 24-year-old engineers dead. The teenager, who police say driving in a drunken condition, was granted bail within 15 hours of his detention. A local court let him out on some conditions which many have described as flimsy — he was asked to write a 300-word essay on accidents, told to work with traffic police for 15 days and asked to undergo counselling for his drinking habit. Pune Police have now approached the juvenile justice board for permission to try him as an adult.
