ORDER

This application seeking pre-arrest bail is preferred by the accused No. 2 in Crime No.275 of 2020 of the Kareelakulangara Police Station. The first accused in the crime is the wife of the petitioner herein. They are accused of having committed offence punishable under Sections 317 r/w Section 34 of Indian Penal Code and Section 75 of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.

2. This application is taken up and heard through Videoconferencing.

3. The above crime was registered based on the information given by the sister of the petitioner herein. The petitioner and his wife are the parents of two minor children. The crime was registered on the allegation that the accused, being the persons in actual charge of the minor children, abandoned them in the house of the sister of the petitioner on 17.3.2020 and failed to take care of their needs.

4. Sri. K.R. Sunil, the learned counsel appearing for the petitioner submitted that the petitioner is working at Wayanad in Skilled Construction Company as a mason. He used to visit his family only once in a while. The children were left in the custody of the mother. It was the mother, who has been arrayed as the 1st accused, who took the children to the house of his sister and had eloped with another man. According to the learned counsel, due to the restrictions imposed due to the pandemic, the petitioner was not in a position to leave his place of work and join his children.

5. The learned Public Prosecutor has opposed the prayer.

6. I have considered the submissions advanced and have gone through the case diary.

7. I find from the records that it was the mother who had left the children in the home of the petitioner’s sister. Though the petitioner has an equal responsibility to tend to his children, I am of the considered opinion that his custodial interrogation is not necessary in the instant case.

In the result, this application will stand allowed. The petitioner shall appear before the Investigating Officer within ten days from today and shall undergo interrogation. Thereafter, if he is proposed to be arrested, he shall be released on bail on his executing a bond for a sum of Rs.50,000/- (Rupees Fifty thousand only) with two solvent sureties each for the like sum. The above order shall be subject to the following conditions:

i) The petitioner shall cooperate with the investigation and shall appear before the Investigating Officer on all Saturdays between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m., for two months or till the final report is filed, whichever is earlier.

ii) He shall not directly or indirectly make any inducement, threat or promise to any person acquainted with the facts of the case so as to dissuade him/ her from disclosing such facts to the court or to any police officer.

iii) He shall not commit any similar offence while on bail.

In case of violation of any of the above conditions, the jurisdictional Court shall be empowered to consider the application for cancellation, if any, and pass appropriate orders in accordance with the law.