The Bombay High Court has granted bail to a 33-year-old man accused of assaulting three minor boys on their private parts under suspicion of theft, stating that the incident did not involve any sexual intent.
A single judge Justice Anil Kilor granted bail to Kapil Taak. The court noted that the case was solely about physical and mental torture.
In 2021, Taak was apprehended on charges of unnatural offence, assault, and criminal intimidation under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), as well as sexual assault under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO).
It was known that Taak and the other accused allegedly stripped the three teenage boys, beat them with leather belts, inserted fingers into their anus, and applied balm to their private parts. Taak is also accused of filming the incident with a mobile phone.
“After going through the FIR and the allegations made in the FIR against the applicant, prima facie nothing is brought on record to show that there was any sexual intent,” the jury ruled.
The judge further stated that the case involved “physical and mental torture meted out to minor victims” because Taak and the other accused thought the victims were thieves.
Sana Khan, Taak’s advocate, contended that the POCSOA provisions would not apply in this case because there was no sexual intent. She stated that Taak has been in jail since 2021, and a chargesheet in the case has already been filed.
The mother of one of the minor victims filed a complaint against Taak and others in April 202 after she noticed some people watching a video of some minor boys being assaulted and abused in their private parts.
The woman recognized one of the boys as her son.
According to the complaint, the accused forced the boys to accompany them from a local market to a secluded area where they were assaulted.
