‘Paedophile’ woman gets court relief

Mumbai: A special POCSO court has granted bail to a 22-year-old woman arrested for allegedly kidnapping a minor boy and having sexual relationship with him. The woman is claimed to have conceived and delivered a girl child out of her relationship with the victim boy and she was arrested after the boy’s father filed a complaint. The court granted her bail, as the charge sheet is filed and probe in the case is over. Judge Sanjashree Gharat granted bail to the lady on personal bond of Rs 40,000. The Kurla police had arrested the accused under relevant sections of Indian Penal Code, Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 as well as the Child Marriage Act. Advocate Khalid Azami on behalf of the accused had contended that she is a woman having a five-month-old child. He also contended that the complainant mentioned wrong age of the victim boy to the police. According to advocate Azmi, there was a love affair between the accused and the boy and no non-cognisable offence (NC) was filed to show that the victim was under fear of accused. The boy voluntarily left his house and got married with the accused and a female child was born out of their relationship. On the other hand, the prosecution opposed her bail plea contending that the lady is already married and she insisted the victim to keep relations with her by threatening to commit suicide.   She also made two attempts to commit suicide. According to the police, the victim boy started following her instructions under the compelling circumstances. It was further argued that if released on bail she could abscond or tamper the prosecution evidence and witnesses.

However, after hearing arguments the judge Gharat said that the probe is completed and charge sheet is filed and hence bail can be granted to the accused.