In the recent case, it was alleged that the petitioner, a lawyer has sexually assaulted his niece, a minor girl of 12 years old. The Senior Counsel appearing in his defence stated that bogus charges have been made against the petitioner as there was a dispute between the siblings in pursuit of family property. On the other side, the counsel Advocate M.R Jayalatha appearing on the behalf of the victim stated that the victim’s mother came to know about the alleged incident after a child had taken counselling to a sudden behaviour change. They pleaded to take stringent action against the accused by rejecting the bail application. While the court took into account the arguments raised by both the parties stated that the dispute between the siblings over family property cannot be neglected and the act done by the petitioner showed affection towards the victim but can be possible under the pretext of desire for sexual overturns. Thus, the Kerala High Court bench consisting of Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas permitted the pre-arrest bail application while pointing out to not only be sensitive to the sexual offences against the victim but also to beware of false accusations levied upon the accused of undisclosed intentions.
