The Supreme Court has on Thursday set aside a Rajasthan High Court order which granted bail to a rape accused, who is the son of a sitting MLA Johari Lal, and asked him to surrender within two weeks. The apex court noted that the accused Deepak is the son of MLA Johari Lal and could also influence the witnesses.
The Supreme court in its order stated, “The fact that accused Deepak is the son of a sitting MLA would unleash the domineering influence not only in delaying the proceedings but also in pressurising the witnesses to either resile from their statement given during the course of investigation, or pose a threat to them from deposing against accused on their failure to act according to his dictates, or induce them to testify as per his dictates or to help the defence of the accused, “it added.
The top court was hearing an appeal challenging an order dated April 6 passed by a single judge of the High Court of Rajasthan. The court had granted bail to the accused. Previously, a 15-year-old girl was allegedly gang-raped by 3 persons in Mandawar in Rajasthan’s Dausa district. The FIR was registered in March 2022 for alleged gang rape, threat of making video of the crime viral besides extortion.
The accused were booked under provisions of the POCSO Act and Section 66D of the Information Technology (IT) Act.
