Dr Kauser Edappagath, J
1. These nine applications are filed under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure seeking regular bail.
2. All the bail applications are connected. The applicant/accused in all the bail applications is one and the same. He is a primary school teacher. The victims in all these cases are his students, studying in 5th standard. The applicant/accused is their class teacher.
3. The offences alleged in all the cases are punishable under Sections 354 A (1) (i), 354 (2), 509 of the IPC and Section 10 r/w 9 (f) (l) (m) of the POCSO Act and Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice Act.
4. The prosecution allegation in all the cases, is that, the applicant/accused, who is the class teacher of the victim minor girls, committed sexual assault by holding their body parts at the class room on various occasions and thereby committed the offences.
5. I have heard Sri.Vidyasagar, the learned counsel for the applicant and Sri.M.P.Prasanth, the learned Public Prosecutor. Perused the case diary.
6. The learned counsel for the applicant submitted that the applicant is innocent and has been falsely implicated in the present case. The counsel further submitted that no materials are on record to connect the applicant with the alleged crime; hence, he is entitled to get bail. On the other hand, the learned Public Prosecutor submitted that the alleged incident occurred as a part of the intentional criminal acts of the applicant, and he is not entitled to bail at this stage.
7. The applicant was remanded to judicial custody on 11.01.2023. I went through the FIS in all cases. The allegations are very vague. I also went through the statement of the victims recorded under Section 164 of the Cr.P.C. There is hardly any allegation of sexual harassment or sexual assault therein. That apart, the investigation is over and the final report is filed. For all these reasons, I do not find any reason to hold that the continued detention of the applicant is required for any purpose. Hence, the applicant is entitled to be released on bail.
In the result, all the applications are allowed on the following conditions: -
(i) The applicant in each case shall be released on bail on executing a bond for Rs.1,00,000/- (Rupees One lakh only) with two solvent sureties for the like sum each to the satisfaction of the jurisdictional Magistrate/Court in each case.
(ii) The applicant shall not commit any offence of a like nature while on bail.
(iii) The applicant shall not attempt to contact any of the prosecution witnesses, directly or through any other person, or in any other way try to tamper with the evidence or influence any witnesses or other persons related to the investigation.
(iv) The applicant shall not leave the State of Kerala without the permission of the trial Court.
(v) The application, if any, for deletion/modification of the bail conditions or cancellation of bail on the grounds of violating the bail conditions shall be filed at the jurisdictional court.
