KHARAR (ROPAR):The bail plea of the seven accused in the infamous Katia kidnapping and molestation case was rejected by the Judicial Magistrate, M.S. Walia, here, last week, despite defense counsel’s vociferous plea that the accused were “innocent” and the court of the judicial magistrate was competent to grant bail.

In his order the magistrate noted that the offences alleged against the accused were punishable under section 366 of the Indian Penal Coxe (IPC), implying use of force to rape a woman, adjudication of which was exclusively in the competency of the District and Sessions Judge. The judge further said, “After perusal of the statement of Katia recorded before a judicial magistrate and the statements of the witnesses, James and Phillips besides a study of the police file, prima facie there was no material on record at this stage, to mitigate the offences attracted by the accused. Hence the bail application Stood rejected.”

As the accused were not required to be present last week the usual excitement and action that has accompanied their count appearances was missing.

The arguments were opened by the Assistant Public Prosecutor, Lakhwinder Singh Hundal, opposing the bail application on the ground that the accused were “influential persons” and after their release on bail they might succeed in tampering with the evidence and the record which called for rejection of the bail plea. Aloke Kumar Sengupta, a prominent lawyer practicing in the apex court however, vehemently opposed the plea of the prosecution ‘on the ground that “no rape as such was committed by the accused as perKatia’s own statement.” Hence section 366 of the IPC was not applicable. This brought the request for bail within the ambit of the powers of the Khararcoun. He produced a citified copy of the order passed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court stating that the trial court or any other competent court would be at liberty to decide the case on merits, independent of the proceedings in the high court.

Article extracted from this publication >>  September 30, 1994