Crime against women and children, crime against society: Punjab & Haryana High Court

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A Single Bench of Punjab and Haryana High Court comprising Justice Harnesh Singh Gill, rejected a petition seeking anticipatory bail in a case of kidnapping and rape of a 14-year old girl.

Highlighting the plight of the victim, High Court observed,

“A crime against the women and children, being heinous and gruesome, as it not only takes away from them their dignity, but scars their body and soul for all time to come, is a crime against the society as a whole.”

The Court further remarked,

“The allegations against the petitioner are very serious in nature and in case, he is granted the benefit of anticipatory bail, every effort may be made by him to either tamper with the evidence or win over the witnesses.”

The case was registered at Batala Police Station Civil Lines, District Gurdaspur, against some unknown persons under Sections 363, 363-A, 366-A, 376 and 511 IPC and Section 8 of the POCSO Act. The petitioner, Gurmeet Singh was not named in the FIR.

The counsel of the petitioner pleaded that the petitioner was being falsely implicated due to political motives. Also, a compromise was effected between the petitioner and father of the victim. Therefore, the petitioner filed a petition before the Hon’ble court for granting the concession of anticipatory bail.

Rejecting such contentions of the counsel for the petitioner, the court stated that the plea of learned counsel for the petitioner that the matter has been compromised between the petitioner and father of the prosecutrix, is inconceivable keeping in view the allegations contained in the FIR coupled with the fact that the investigation is at the initial stage.

The court was of view that the petitioner is further required for custodial interrogation. Therefore, the petition was dismissed on the grounds of no merit.

Recently it was reported that according to the annual National Crime Record Bureau’s “Crime in India” 2019 report, crimes against women increased 7.3 per cent from 2018 to 2019. The costs of crimes against women can be both direct and indirect and are incurred by women and their families and state as well. Women who survive the violence bear the brunt of the costs – as much as six times the cost to the state.