Mumbai Man Charged with Coercing Minor into Filming Obscene Videos Granted Bail by Court

Nayab Singh Saini

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday granted pre-arrest bail to a man who allegedly forced a six-year-old boy to film him in a compromising position with the child’s mother.

A bench of Justice Manish Pitale was hearing the anticipatory bail application filed by the man under various sections of the Indian Act (BNS) and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act (POCSO). A case was filed against the man in Navi Mumbai.

The case surfaced earlier this year when the child’s mother filed a complaint accusing the man of rape and sexual abuse. The man was arrested. During the course of the investigation, police discovered approximately eight obscene videos on his phone that had been filmed at the child’s home.

During police interrogation, the man revealed that the video was recorded by a child. After acknowledging that fact, authorities filed a new lawsuit accusing him of forcing children to film explicit acts.

Notably, the additional court judge in Panvel refused to grant pre-arrest bail to the man, finding the conduct of the accused highly objectionable as it involved sexual abuse of a child as he was forced to record obscene videos on his mobile phone. The court further observed that the purpose of the POCSO Act is to protect such children from sexual abuse.

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However, High Court judge Justice Pitale said the man had been granted regular bail in a previous case, which was registered after the woman filed rape charges. In addition, the defendant handed over his cell phone to investigators observing the court.

The high court in its order noted that there was substance to the contention raised by the accused that since he had handed over his mobile phone to investigators in connection with the previous FIR probe, there was hardly any ground to seek his physical custody.

The judge also noted that the offense carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison.

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