The Supreme Court
has granted anticipatory bail to the daughter and son of suspended Delhi
government officer Premoday Khakha in a case of alleged sexual assault of a
minor girl by the arrested official.
A bench of
Justices CT Ravikumar and Rajesh Bindal granted the relief, noting that the
petitioners have joined the investigation.
"After going
through the statement, and hearing learned counsel on both sides and after
perusing the material on record, we are of the view that these Special Leave
Petitions can be disposed of, directing the release of the petitioners on bail
in the event of their arrest on furnishing a bond of Rs 25,000, subject to the
satisfaction of the Investigating Officer and further subject to the conditions
stipulated under section 438(2), CrPC," the bench said in an order on
Monday.
Advocates
Shubhashis R Soren and Bhakti Singh appeared for the petitioners.
The Delhi High
Court on October 11 last year had refused to grant anticipatory bail to the
daughter and son of Khakha, saying prima facie their "comprehensive
interrogation" was required at this stage.
It had observed
that the siblings were "untraceable" and granting pre-arrest bail to
them would not be prudent as it could derail the investigation which was at a
nascent stage.
The high court
had said while their personal liberty was a relevant factor, the nature of the
offences which were allegedly committed over a period of time after the
"victim" had just lost her father, her age as well as other factors,
including that they were all residing in the same household at the relevant
time, cannot be overlooked.
The official's
son and daughter, accused of abetting the crime, had approached the high court
seeking pre-arrest bail in the case after they failed to secure the relief from
trial court.
Khakha allegedly
raped the minor girl several times between November 2020 and January 2021, and
is currently in jail after his arrest in August.
The minor was the
daughter of a person known to the accused, the police had said.
The official's
wife Seema Rani, who allegedly gave the girl medicine to terminate her
pregnancy, is also an accused in the case. She too is in judicial custody.
The couple was
arrested after the survivor recorded her statement before a magistrate at a
hospital.
A case has been
registered under provisions of the POCSO Act and Indian Penal Code sections
376(2)(f) (being a relative, guardian or teacher of, or a person in a position
of trust or authority towards the woman, commits rape on such woman) and 509
(word, gesture or act intended to outrage the modesty of a woman), police said.
IPC sections 506
(criminal intimidation), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 313 (causing
miscarriage without woman's consent) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) have also
been invoked in the case, police said.