The Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to an advocate who was convicted and sentenced to life on the charge of kidnapping and raping a girl he claimed was his wife.
A Bench comprising Justices G.S. Singhvi and A.K. Ganguly was admitting an appeal filed by the advocate against a January 9, 2009 Madras High Court judgment, which confirmed the trial court’s order awarding him the life sentence.
In its brief order, the Bench said the sentence was suspended and the appellant was ordered released on his furnishing a bail bond for Rs. 50,000 with two sureties for Rs. 25,000 each to the satisfaction of the trial court.
According to the prosecution, D. Balasubramanian kidnapped the girl at Cheranmanagar, Coimbatore, on April 21, 2005, married her by threat and compulsion, and raped her.
The trial court found him guilty under Sections 366 (kidnap) and 376 (rape) of the Indian Pedal Code and awarded him the life sentence. On appeal, the High Court confirmed the sentence.
Counsel Jayant Muth Raj said the appellant and the girl got married with her consent and the knowledge of her father. Thereafter, she stayed with him for over a month and made no attempt to escape. They visited various temples, houses of relatives and other places, and the girl did not complain to anybody including her family members.
It was unbelievable and unnatural for a girl to stay with a person, who allegedly kidnapped her and held her under threat, without protest and to go with him to a number of places without making an attempt to contact her family or escape from him, counsel argued. The appellant was falsely implicated, counsel said.
In his special leave petition, the appellant contended that the trial court and the High Court were not justified in convicting him without appreciating the fact that the girl’s parents did not file a police complaint immediately after the alleged kidnap, and that the FIR was lodged after a long delay.
