NEW DELHI:
The Delhi High Court on Monday refused to grant default bail to suspended Delhi Government officer Premoday Khakha, who is accused of allegedly raping a 16-year-old girl multiple times, and his wife, who reportedly gave her medicine to terminate her pregnancy.
Khakha had challenged a trial court’s decision denying him statutory bail, arguing that the charge sheet filed against him was based on an incomplete investigation.
Justice Jyoti Singh, while rejecting the bail pleas, affirmed the trial court’s order, stating that there was no flaw in its decision.
The court noted that substantial investigation had been carried out by the police before the charge sheet was filed within the prescribed timeframe.
“The charge sheet was filed on October 11, 2023, and cognisance was taken by the trial court on November 8, 2023. Undoubtedly, substantial investigation has been completed,” remarked the court.
The trial court had last year noted that there was prima facie sufficient material to proceed against the accused persons.
Additional Sessions Judge (POCSO) Richa Parihar of Tis Hazari Courts had directed the police to supply copies of the charge sheet to the accused.
Both Khakha and his wife Seema Rani are in judicial custody.
The Delhi Police had, in August 2023, arrested Khakha and his wife after questioning them for several hours at their residence.
The 51-year-old Khakha was suspended from the post of Deputy Director in the Women and Child Development Department of the Delhi Government.
The move had come after the victim recorded her statement before a Magistrate at a city hospital.
The couple is a resident of Shakti Enclave in Burari area and the accused allegedly raped the victim repeatedly between 2020 and 2021.
A police source had said that the accused kept on raping the minor daughter of his friend for months, during which his wife also allegedly assisted him.
“As his wife also aided him in the act and did not report the matter to the police, we have added Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) in the FIR against his wife,” the police source had said.
“The most shocking part is that when the victim got pregnant, she was threatened with dire consequences by the accused. When the accused narrated the matter to his wife, instead of helping the victim, the woman sent her son to buy abortion pills, which she gave to the victim,” the source had said.
A case was registered under the relevant Sections of the POCSO Act and the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against the accused.
