Mentioning three shlokas from Manusmruti and Padma Puran about ‘father’ and ‘mother’ in the judgment, the Gujarat high court (HC) denied bail to a man accused of molesting his 12-year-old daughter.
Justice Samir J Dave referred to the couplet from Manusmruti which states: “An Acharya is greater than 10 Upadhyayas, a father is greater than a hundred Acharyas and a mother is greater in glory than a thousand fathers.” He also noted the couplet from Padma Puran which says: “My father is my dharma, my father is my heaven, he is the ultimate penance of my life.”
Referring to the man’s alleged act in the present matter, the judge said, “A daughter always looks up to her father as a shield of her dignity and honour which is an intrinsic facet of a family especially of the father-daughter relationship. It shocks human conscience when the sanctity of father and daughter relationship is ravaged in such a sordid manner and the protector becomes the violator.” He stressed that in such a case as the instant one, the offence assumes a greater degree of vulnerability which should not go unpunished.
The judge observed that in the present case, prima facie prosecution had been successful in establishing the case against the accused. “It appears that there are no reasonable grounds for believing that the present applicant is not guilty of the alleged offence and that he is not likely to commit any offence while on bail,” he held.
FIR FILED BY MOTHER
The first information report (FIR) in the present case was filed by the man’s wife. In her complaint, which was filed with a delay of about 25 days from the alleged incident, the woman had stated that she was away from the house for some time and when she returned, she found her daughter running out of the house screaming. She claimed that the girl then told her about the accused father’s attempt to molest her.
As per the complaint, the minor victim had told that the accused tied her hands, blocked her mouth with a cloth, took out her frock and moved his hand inappropriately to her chest.
The FIR also stated that the girl had told all this to her mother in presence of other people and when the mother quarreled with the accused, he declared, in the presence of other people, that he wanted to marry his minor daughter.
However, in his bail plea, the accused stated that he had been falsely implicated in the matter by his wife as disputes were going on between them since long. He alleged that his wife had used the minor daughter for making allegations.
While stating that there can never be a graver heinous crime than a man being charged of raping/ molesting his daughter, the judge denied bail.
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