Recently, the Hon’ble Karnataka High Court observed that being a government employee cannot be a reason to grant bail to a person who is accused of a heinous offence like rape. Single-judge bench of Justice HP Sandesh was hearing the bail plea of the accused who is employed as Assistant Executive Engineer at Karnataka Electricity Corporation Limited (KPTCL). He was arrested on charges of raping and threatening a young woman.
The court denied his bail application, citing the victim’s statement, which stated that the accused subjected her to sexual actions against her will and threatened her life. The medical data also suggested that she had been subjected to sexual actions, according to the Court.
The Court said that when such evidence is available, the fact that the petitioner is a government employee is not a reason to release him on bond, especially when a serious rape charge has been levelled against him. The medical data and the 164 statement, on the surface, indicate that the victim was subjected to a sexual act.
The accused was charged with rape, cheating, and criminal intimidation under Indian Penal Code Sections 376 (rape), 420 (cheating), and 506 (criminal intimidation) (IPC).
He allegedly took the woman to a home stay in September 2021 for dinner and sexually attacked her there, despite the fact that she was engaged to someone else. He offered to marry her after committing the crime and threatened to murder her if she told her family about it.
