Nolessonlearnt,sayscourtonhabitualoffender,deniesbail

A special court has rejected the bail plea of a 21-year-old accused of making viral a semi-nude video of his partner and said that it appears that he has not learnt any lesson from his arrest in another case of rape on promise of marriage earlier and has committed the crime immediately after his release on bail in the latter.

Special Judge under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act MA Baraliya made these observations against his conduct while denying him bail.

The court said that in the present case it reveals that the victim got acquainted with Saireel Shaikh in February 2020 just after his release on bail in the other case in which the victim had got pregnant.

"The accused seems to have learnt no lesson from his arrest...No sooner was he freed, he got involved in similar crime," the court observed. It said that it is "very serious" to commit and repeat such a crime immediately after release on bail in a similar crime.

Judge Baraliya also remarked that his modus operandi seems to be to lay a trap around minor girls, make them fall in love, misuse them, obtain their vulgar videos and blackmail them. The court said it finds substance in the submission of the prosecution that he will repeat such a crime if freed again. It also said that his release on bail would give a wrong signal to society.

The 17-year-old victim’s mother had approached the police after her daughter had received from an unknown number a topless video of herself. She realised that the youth with whom she was in a relationship had made viral the video call in which he had compelled her to go topless.