India News | HC Denies Bail to Basketball Coach Accused of Sexually Assaulting Minor Student

New Delhi, Aug 19 (PTI) The Delhi High Court has refused bail to a basketball coach accused of sexually assaulting his 13-year-old student, saying that betrayal of trust in a fiduciary relationship at an early stage of life may inhibit the child from developing healthy interpersonal relationships in the future.

Justice Subramonium Prasad opined that the “act of sexual assault or sexual harassment has the potential to cause mental trauma to the child and may dictate their thought process for the years to come” apart from hindering the social growth and resulting in various psychosocial problems.

Also Read | SpiceJet To Begin Trial of Travel Pass Mobile App of IATA for Digital Health Verification.

“Paramount consideration is to be given to the well-being of the child whose mental psyche is vulnerable, impressionable and in a developing stage. The long-term effects of childhood sexual abuse are, at many times, insurmountable. It may hinder the normal social growth of the child and lead to various psychosocial problems which could require psychological intervention,” said the judge in his order passed on Wednesday.

Rejecting the submission of the accused that the prosecutrix may have “misread an innocuous act”, the court stated that she was well equipped to differentiate an inadvertent conduct from one that may be deliberate.

Also Read | Maharashtra: Farmer Killed During Brawl On His Birthday in Pune District; Two Accused Arrested.

“The prosecutrix herein is a 13-year-old girl studying in 9th standard of a public school in New Delhi. She is well equipped to differentiate between conduct that may be inadvertent and conduct that may be deliberate. Furthermore, the allegations in the FIR as well as subsequent statements of the prosecutrix are coherent in nature,” the court said.

It added that there was no reasonable justification as to why the prosecutrix would be motivated to level false allegations against her coach.

The court further said that the accused was also known to the parents of the prosecutrix and thus shared a fiduciary relationship which compounded the severity of the matter.

“The relationship between the prosecutrix and the petitioner is, therefore fiduciary in nature. In such cases, betrayal of trust at an early stage of life may inhibit the child from developing healthy interpersonal relationships in the future. This compounds the severity of the matter,” it said.

The court iterated that granting bail to the accused before charges are framed and the prosecutrix is examined may lead to defeating the purpose of the objective behind the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012.

While dismissing the bail plea, the court directed the trial court to proceed with the framing of charges within one month and if charges are framed, examine the victim within the next one month thereafter.

The judge granted liberty to the accused to approach the court for grant of bail after two months irrespective of whether victim has been examined or not.

The accused was arrested for the alleged commission of offences under Section 354-B (Criminal force with intent to disrobe) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 10 (aggravated sexual assault) of POCSO Act.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)