NEW DELHI: A Delhi court has granted bail to a retired Subedar accused of sexually assaulting a girl and committing robbery with her friend at a park in Delhi's Dwarka area.
Additional Sessions Judge Lokesh Kumar Sharma allowed an application for bail moved by advocate Ravi Drall on behalf of accused Rajesh Kumar Malik.
"After considering the overall facts and circumstances of the case, especially when all the public witnesses have been examined in this case and no previous involvement of accused has been cited in any other case of any nature whatsoever and also keeping in view the period of incarceration already undergone by accused in this case, he is admitted to bail on his furnishing personal bond in the sum of Rs 25,000 with one surety in the like amount," the court said.
Malik was arrested in February this year after the girl on 4 February lodged a complaint with the Delhi Police that on January 28, she faced a sexual assault in a park in Dwarka area.
The girl alleged that she was sitting with a friend in the park, when a man wearing khaki pants reached there and called himself a Delhi policeman. After that the man robbed five thousand rupees from her friend and committed wrong with her in the park. Following the incident, he fled in Ertiga car.
During the argument, the counsel for the accused stated that a trivial issue pertaining to the mobile phone had been given the colour of a heinous crime against his client who is stated to be an ex-army personal and was presently working as coach of wrestling, having clean antecedents.
He also submitted that the accused has been in judicial custody since February 13, 2022. Since all the public witnesses have been examined, hence, there remains no apprehension of his threatening or intimidating any other witnesses, as remaining witnesses are all police officials, he said, alleging the police had planted all the recoveries upon him.
The counsel for Delhi police and the complainant opposed the plea, saying that in the absence of any previous enmity between the parties, it is hard to believe that a girl would level such kind of serious allegations against the accused without even properly knowing him.
"All the recoveries made either from his possession or at the instance of accused, are stated to be correct," they said.
Additional Public Prosecutor Aditya Kumar also said that story put forth by the accused does not inspire confidence as it was the accused himself, who had driven back his car from the spot, which was also captured in the CCTV footage and the recovery of khaki pant, jacket and cap from his car are sufficient enough to draw a presumption that he was imposing himself as a police cop.
The girl's mother, also present in the court, apprehended serious threat to her security, if the accused is granted bail as she is living alone with her son and her husband, an Army officer, was posted outside and the survivor is out of the city for higher studies.
The court, however, allowed the plea for bail to the accused.
But it directed the accused not to make any efforts either directly or indirectly to contact or intimidate the girl or any of her family members in any manner.
The accused was also directed not to visit the locality of the girl within a range of 500 mtrs for any purpose whatsoever, the court said, while making it clear that a breach of any of the conditions would result into cancellation of his bail.
