Nishka Srinivas Veluvali
Published On: January 28, 2022 at 18:03 IST
The Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay High Court took strong stand against the Act of father “donating” his daughter to a Baba while considering the Bail Plea of the Accused.
Justice Vibha Kankanwadi was hearing the Bail Plea filed by the two Accused Shankeshwar alias Shambhu Dhakne and Sopan Dhakne who were Arrested for sexually Assaulting a 17 – year – old minor.
The Court stated that, “When the girl as per her own statement is minor, then why the father who is in all respect guardian of the girl should give the girl as Daan? A girl is not a property which can be given in donation”.
The Court was also informed of the terrible fact that the father had executed “Daanpatra” (donation deed) with the Baba and the deed mentioned that the girl was donated in the presence of the God.
The Accused in their applications stated that the girl had filed the Case against Baba who resides with her and her father in the temple.
The application states that the Baba and his disciples allegedly consume Narcotic and Intoxicating substances and involve the young crowd of the village for the same.
It also informs the Court that the Gram Sabha of the village had decided to remove the Baba, his disciples and the girl from the temple as they were wrongly influencing the youth of the village.
The application inferred that they were falsely Accused in the Case because they had shown their support to the resolution to remove the Baba from village.
The Prosecution had filed the First Information report (FIR) under the Charges of the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual offences (POSCO) Act after she had complained of Outraging her Modesty and Raping her.
However, the Court took cognizance of the charge – sheet filed which assumed that the Investigation was completed and thus, there is no need for the applicants to keep in custody.
Hence, Justice Kankanwadi awarded Bail to both the Accused in the Case.
Later on, the Court asked the father of the minor to explain the “donation deed” that came forward during the course of hearing.
However, after much delay the Court found out that the person who had filed the Affidavit is the not the same person who was mentioned in the Charge – Sheet. The Affidavit stated that after the death of girl’s mother her father had given her up for adoption to the Baba in 2018, however a proper process of adoption was not followed by both the parties.
The Counsel of the father also failed to explain the Court why the “donation deed” took place between them.
With view of these discrepancies, Justice Kankanwadi expressed her deep worry about the future of the minor girl.
Thus, the Court directed the Child Welfare Committee to initiate an inquiry on fast track with regard to the girl and find out the if she can be announced as a child in need of care and protection.
On January 21, 2022 the Child Welfare Committee submitted their report and the High Court listed this matter for February 4, 2022.