Witnesses Turning Hostile Leads to Bail of Rape Accused: Allahabad HC

Overview

• The Allahabad High Court recently granted bail to a man who has been accused of raping two minor girls at gunpoint.
• As per the FIR the accused picked up his daughters, took them to a field, raped them at point and made videos of the act.
• However, both victims turned hostile and named only the co-accused in the hearing, leaving out the name of the accused-applicant.
• The Court dismissed the objections raised by the Additional Advocate General opposing the bail application and granted bail to the accused

Contents of the FIR

• The FIR was lodged by Jalil Ahmed, who was the father of one victim and uncle of the other.
• As per the FIR, the victims (Seema, 17 and Arshi, 14) were going to a hospital to seek treatment. On their commute, one of the accused men took the victims to a field, and all the accused raped the victim at gunpoint.
• The FIR also alleges that a video recording of the act was made by the accused, by the means of which they coerced the victims to not tell anyone or else the recording would be leaked.

Arguments of the Accused

• The applicant-accused Akhlaq Khan denied all allegations of rape. His legal representatives argued that the FIR was lodged maliciously, as there is an ongoing land dispute between Akhlaq Khan’s father and Jalil Ahmad.
• They further submitted that the radiological age of the victims assessed was assessed as per which Seema is 20 years old and Arshi is 18.
• Additionally, as per the medical reports, no physical injuries were found on the victim, except that their hymens were torn and healed. As per the reports, the tears in the hymens were old.

Witnesses turned hostile: What happened?

• The statement that was recorded in front of the Magistrate under Section 164 Cr.P.C., the victims have mentioned the accused-applicant by name, stating that he was involved in the rape.
• However, during the Court hearing, one of the victims Seema only testified against two of the co-accused namely Wasim and Nazim, and stated that she is seeing the other co-accused in the hearing “for the first time”.
• The second victim Arshi also testified against the co-accused Wasim stating that he was the one who committed rape on both the victims, and said that she does not recognize any other co-accused.

Court’s Order

Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh took into account the hostility of the witnesses, along with considering the quantum of the punishment, nature of the offence and period of detention in jail, and granted bail to the accused-applicant Akhlaq Khan.

The order also states that “if the accused is released on bail, he will not misuse the liberty of bail”.

The accused-applicant was further asked not to “tamper with the prosecution evidence by intimidating/ pressurizing the witnesses, during the investigation or trial”.

What are your thoughts on witness hostility in India? Let us know in the comments below.