Granting Bail In Consideration Of Age Factor Will Have Adverse Results : Kerala High Court

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The case in reference is Jaimon v/s. Sate of Kerala. [B.A. No. 8663 of 2020]
• The Kerala High Court recently held that in order to curb cyber crimes granting of pre- arrest bail on the basis of considering age factor will only give adverse result.
• This was a bail application filed before the Kerala High Court by an 18 year old student who was booked for offences under I.T Act, 2000 for transmitting morphed obscene photos of his neighbour.
• The accused was booked for offences under Sections 67 and 67-A of the Information & Technology Act, 2000 and other non bailable offences.

BACKGROUND DETAILS

• The bail application was heard by a single bench of Kerala High Court Judge, Justice Shircy V.
• The accused petitioner in this case had close acquaintance with the defacto complainant and his family which consists of his wife and 3 children.
• The accused used to quite often visit the home of the defacto complainant who are neighbours to play shuttle with the defacto complainant’s children.
• While visiting his neighbour’s home he clicked the photos of the complainant’s wife and later on misused it.
• He morphed those photographs which he clicked on his cell phone and made a fake profile on social media to upload those morphed and sexually explicit photos of his neighbour’s wife.

FURTHER DETAILS

• The public prosecutor while opposing the bail application contended that the morphed obscene photos were uploaded on social media and transmitted to various sources for the sake of money.
• The counsel appearing for the accused petitioner submitted that his client is absolutely innocent and a college going student pursuing his studies. Also mentioned that he is just 18 year old pupil.
• He stated that apart from being booked for offences under the I.T Act, 2000 under the influence of the complainant his client was implicated also for non bailable offences.
• The public prosecutor said that the offences under which the accused is booked is grave in nature and quite serious. Not just that he took advantage of the freedom he received for being friends with the children of the complainant by misusing the photos for monetary gains.

COURT ORDER

After hearing both the sides the court was of the opinion that in order to curb such offences, granting of pre- arrest by considering on the basis of age factor will have adverse results on the society. The offences levelled against the 18 year old petitioner are serious and grave in nature which is also an offence against the society at large. So the court dismissed the bail application stating that the court is under no inclination to grant bail.

CONCLUSION

It is true that many a times perpetrators are not given adequate punishment or easily given bail based on their age by many higher courts as they have lenient or strict approach depending on the age. But the court made it clear through its judgement that it is under no obligation and has discretion to reject bail in such cases where the offence is seen as a crime committed against the society at large. Making it clear that this order will serve as a deterrent effect to many other wrongdoer in the society.

Do you think the order of the Court is justified? What would be your reaction if your photos were misused ? Let us know in the comments section below!