Bengal rape case: Accused gets bail as victim's non-cooperation continues

Kolkata, July 19 (IANS) A trial court in Kolkata, on Saturday, granted an interim bail to the accused in connection with the case of rape of a woman within the campus of the Indian Institute of Management-Calcutta (IIM-C) earlier this month.

As hinted by IANS earlier in the day, the counsels representing the accused said that the victim woman was not cooperating in the process of investigation, which exactly happened at the trial court.

The counsel of the accused, a second-year student of IIM-C, on Saturday, argued on three instances of non-cooperation by the victim -- refusal to appear at the trial court thrice this week to get her confidential statement recorded in font of a judicial magistrate, her refusal to get media-legal examination conducted and her refusal to submit to the investigating officials the clothes that she was wearing during the alleged event of rape.

The counsel of the accused highlighted all these instances in support of his plea for granting bail to his client, which the judge of the lower court ultimately accepted.

The public prosecutor, in his counter-argument, claimed that the event of her failure to turn up in the lower court to get her confidential statement recorded in front of a judicial magistrate was due to her shattered mental state after the event of rape.

The current terms of the police custody of the accused ended on Saturday, following which he was presented at the trial court.

The public prosecutor sought his judicial custody and said that if necessary the state might seek another round of police custody for the accused.

However, the judge did not accept the argument of the public prosecutor and finally granted an interim bail to the accused against a personal bail-bond of Rs 50,000.

At the same time, the court imposed some restrictions on accused' movement during the interim bail period.

--IANS

src/khz