Youth accused of raping deaf teenager, gets bail

Af ter 17 months in jail, a 25year-old man, who was accused of raping and impregnating a deaf girl, was on Tuesday granted bail by a sessions court.

The court took into account the DNA report which negated that he is the biological father of the boy child that was born to the 19-year-old. The youth was arrested in the offence in August 2019. Additional Sessions Judge Sanjashree Gharat said in her order that the DNA report negates the prosecution case that it is the accused who had committed penetrative sexual assault with the victim and made her pregnant.

The court also noted that he had been in custody for the last 17 months, the chargesheet was filed and that it will take time to decide the matter on merits. “Looking into the copy of the DNA report produced by the applicant the prayer made by the applicant needs to be allowed,” it said. Advocate Prakkash Rohira who appeared for the youth said that the bail plea was filed based on the DNA report. The youth had been falsely implicated, he had told the court.

In the complaint filed by the girl’s mother at Santacruz police station, she had stated that the teacher of her 19-yearold daughter who is studying in Class 7 in a special school had informed them that her daughter is experiencing stomach pain. The doctor suggested a sonography and found that she was pregnant. When asked, the girl told her parents in sign language that the youth who lives in her neighbourhood had forcibly taken her to his home and raped her twice when she was on her way to the area’s public toilet from her home and had taken nude photos of her on his mobile.