Mumbai A man accused of sexually assaulting a child in 2019 has pleaded guilty on account of his prison stint of over two and a half years and the fact that he could not come out of jail despite being granted bail in September 2020. The crime attracts a maximum sentence of three years. The Dindoshi sessions court has refused to accept the guilty plea.
“The applications show that the accused had not voluntarily sought to plead guilty but was inclined to do so due to the long period of his incarceration,” said special POCSO judge SJ Ansari, while rejecting two applications filed by Kadir Ramzan Shaikh. “That cannot be a ground for pleading guilty.”
Shaikh was booked by the Samta Nagar police for sexually harassing a 9-year-old girl at a grocery shop on December 21, 2019, and has been behind bars ever since. Shaikh has been booked under Section 12 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and section 354 D (stalking) of the Indian Penal Code, both of which prescribe a maximum punishment of three years imprisonment.
On September 9, 2020, the special POCSO court had ordered Shaikh to be released on a personal bond of ₹15,000 and one surety in the same amount. The court had granted him three months’ time to furnish the amount. He, however, could not avail the bail, as he could not arrange for the money.
In May 2022, he had sent two letters to the trial court, expressing his intention to plead guilty and urged the court to let him off on the prison term that he had already served (over two-and-a-half years).
The special court, however, rejected both pleas after noting that the plea was not voluntary and the accused wanted to plead guilty only because of his long incarceration.
The court also issued a notice to the senior inspector of the Samta Nagar police station, asking him to show cause, why action should not be taken against him for failure to comply with earlier court orders to produce the accused in court.
The court noted that though production warrant was issued for producing the accused physically before the court, the police station did nothing to comply with the order and the constable deputed for court duties at Dindoshi sessions court too failed to turn up before the court, despite specific order.