Bombay HC grants anticipatory bail to rape accused

Gravamen of sexual exploitation and atrocities does not find mention in the FIR, says court

The Bombay High Court recently granted anticipatory bail to man for allegedly raping a Scheduled Caste woman and forcing her to abort her foetus.

A Division Bench of Justices S.S. Shinde and N.J. Jamadar was hearing a criminal appeal filed by Milind Dande. He is challenging the order passed on February 26, 2020 by the Additional Sessions Judge, Nashik, where his pre-arrest bail was rejected.

According to the woman, in March 2019, a Memorandum of Understanding was executed between her and Mr. Dande, according to which Mr. Dande was under an obligation to pay money to the woman. He, however, avoided making the payment as agreed on one pretext or the other. The woman alleged that when she went to meet Mr. Dande along with her friend and demanded money, she was assaulted, pushed and abused, and her modesty was outraged by Mr. Dande.

In November 2019, Mr. Dande implored her to divorce her husband and marry him. She then moved in with Mr. Dande and they started living together as a couple. When she became pregnant, he forced her to undergo an abortion. Mr. Dande kept denying to marriage to the woman on one pretext or the other. She later learnt that he had married to another woman.

Subsequently, an FIR was registered under Sections 376 (punishment for rape), 313 (causing miscarriage without woman’s consent), 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 417 (punishment for cheating), 493 (cohabitation caused by man deceitfully inducing a belief of lawful marriage), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code and relevant Sections of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes Act at the instance of the victim.

The court held, “The gravamen of sexual exploitation and atrocities does not find mention in the First Information Report has a material bearing upon the entitlement of the appellant [Mr. Dande] for pre-arrest bail. We have carefully perused the statements of the witnesses. The court said the statement of the friend who accompanied the woman is silent about the incident of hurling abuses at her. The statement of the doctor of the hospital categorically states that no abortion was carried out in his hospital.”

The court quashed the Sessions Court order and directed that in an event of arrest, Mr. Dande be released on furnishing a bond of ₹25,000.