SC grants protection from arrest to man accused of raping minor

The Supreme Court has granted protection from arrest to an accused facing allegations of raping a minor girl.A bench comprising justices A.S. Bopanna and Dipankar Datta said: “Issue notice to the respondent. In the meantime, there shall be interim protection against arrest of the petitioner subject to the petitioner diligently participating in the investigation and complying with the requirements of Section 438 (2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.”The FIR was registered under 366(A) and 376 of Indian Penal Code, 1860 and Section 4 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 alleging that the accused owns and works in a clothing shop adjacent to that of complainant’s, and in April and June 2021, after learning that the victim was alone in her house, the accused entered the house and allegedly raped her, on the pretext of false assurance of marriage.Appearing for the accused, advocate Namit Saxena argued that the FIR is completely false and added that the records reflect that the accused, a public servant then, was at the government office on both dates of the alleged crime.Saxena further submitted that the progress report filed by the investigating officer had found that no offence was made out.After hearing arguments, the top court issued notice to the Bihar government and also granted interim protection from arrest to the petitioner.