Mumbai: The Bombay High Court granted bail to a 33-year-old man accused of assaulting three minors in their private parts on suspicion of being thieves, noting that there was no sexual intent involved in the case.
A single bench of Justice Anil Kilor, in an order dated June 21 and made available on Monday, granted bail to Kapil Taak. The court noted that the case concerned only physical and mental torture.
Taak was arrested in 2021 on charges of unnatural offences, assault and criminal intimidation under the Indian Penal Code, as well as sexual assault under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act.
Taak and the other defendants allegedly stripped the three teenagers naked, assaulted them with leather belts, inserted fingers into their anuses and applied balm to their private parts. Taak is also accused of filming the incident with a mobile phone.
"After reviewing the FIR and the allegations made in the FIR against the petitioner, prima facie there is nothing to show that there was any sexual intention," the court stated.
The court emphasized that the case involved "physical and mental torture inflicted on the minor victims," as Taak and the other defendants believed the victims were thieves.
Taak's advocate Sana Khan argued that the provisions of the POCSOA would not apply in this case because there was no sexual intent. She noted that Taak had been languishing in prison since 2021 and that a charge sheet had already been filed in the case.
The complaint against Taak and others was filed by the mother of one of the minor victims in April 2020, after she noticed that some people were watching a video in which some minors were assaulted and abused in their private parts.
The woman identified one of the children as her son.
According to the complaint, the defendants forced the children to accompany them from a local market and took them to a secluded location where they were assaulted.
A single bench of Justice Anil Kilor, in an order dated June 21 and made available on Monday, granted bail to Kapil Taak. The court noted that the case concerned only physical and mental torture.
Taak was arrested in 2021 on charges of unnatural offences, assault and criminal intimidation under the Indian Penal Code, as well as sexual assault under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act.
Taak and the other defendants allegedly stripped the three teenagers naked, assaulted them with leather belts, inserted fingers into their anuses and applied balm to their private parts. Taak is also accused of filming the incident with a mobile phone.
"After reviewing the FIR and the allegations made in the FIR against the petitioner, prima facie there is nothing to show that there was any sexual intention," the court stated.
The court emphasized that the case involved "physical and mental torture inflicted on the minor victims," as Taak and the other defendants believed the victims were thieves.
Taak's advocate Sana Khan argued that the provisions of the POCSOA would not apply in this case because there was no sexual intent. She noted that Taak had been languishing in prison since 2021 and that a charge sheet had already been filed in the case.
The complaint against Taak and others was filed by the mother of one of the minor victims in April 2020, after she noticed that some people were watching a video in which some minors were assaulted and abused in their private parts.
The woman identified one of the children as her son.
According to the complaint, the defendants forced the children to accompany them from a local market and took them to a secluded location where they were assaulted.
