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Police Rearrest Rape, Murder Accused After Kerala High Court Recalls Bail

The Kerala police have rearrested  a man who was granted bail a week ago after the Kerala High Court recalled the bail it granted to the accused who is charged with abduction, rape and murder of a 17-year-old girl from Ernakulam in January this year.

The accused Safar Shah was granted bail by the High Court last week. But a Kerala HC bench of Justice PV Kunhikrishnan, after hearing arguments on a plea challenging the bail, directed the police to immediately arrest the accused person.

The move comes after the High Court learnt that the man had secured bail by misleading the court and the prosecution, too, failed to point out the facts of the case.

The man, Safar Shah, a 32-year-old native of Panangad in Ernakulam district, has been accused of rape and murder of a 17-year-old girl in Kochi. In the incident, which had jolted the state in January this year, Safar Shah, who had been stalking the girl, had abducted her while she was on the way home from school. Later that night, the girl’s body was found in a tea plantation at Valparai in Tamil Nadu. Safar was arrested by a joint team of Tamil Nadu and Kerala police.

The man was arrested under Indian Penal Code sections 364 (Kidnapping or abducting in order to murder), 366A (Procuration of minor girl), 376 (Punishment for rape), 370 (Human trafficking) and 302 (Punishment for murder), in addition to charges of sexual assault under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

The petition said that the accused got bail after the defence counsel misled the court that the chargesheet was not submitted before a court in the case within 90 days.

According to the police, the accused had misled the court to secure bail. The defence lawyer’s argument was that Safar Shah should be granted unconditional bail since the charge sheet was not filed even 90 days after the arrest. The prosecution submitted that the police were not able to file the charge sheet. And, the investigation officer had to face criticism of the court for the failure in such a serious case.

Sahar Shah was arrested on January 8, 2020 and the 90 days since his arrested ended on April 8. The police filed the charge sheet in the trial court on April 1 itself and the court had accepted the charge sheet but the defence lawyer as well as the prosecution hid this fact during the trial in the court.

India Legal Bureau

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