The High Court of Karnataka on Wednesday granted bail to Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru, the seer of Murugarajendra Bruhan Mutt, Chitradurga, in one of the two criminal cases registered against him last year for alleged sexual assaults on two minor girls.
However, the court has directed the seer not to enter Chitradurga district till the conclusion of trial against him in both the cases and appear before the special court during trial through videoconferencing without fail.
Justice Sreenivas Harish Kumar passed the order while allowing the petition filed by the seer after the special court in Chitradurga district for the cases under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act refused to grant him bail in February this year.
While analysing the statements of victims girls, some of the witnesses and medical report for the limited purpose of considering seer’s plea for bail, the High Court said that certain doubts arises due to differences in the statements given by the two minor girls.
Contradictory statements
The court noted that the girls had stated before the police and the doctor that they were subjected to penetrative/aggravated sexual assault as defined under Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Assault Act by the seer, but in their statement recorded before the magistrate they did not allege this, which attracts punishment upto life imprisonment.
While the two girls had named before the magistrate eight other girls stating that they too were sexually assaulted, the other girls had stated before the magistrate that the seer used to treat them well and teach English and Sanskrit once a week.
As the medical report of the two girls had stated their hymen were intact, the High Court said that though medical report has only corroborative value, it has to be considered in the light of statements given by the two girls before the magistrate contrary to their statements before the police and the doctor; and the statement of the eight other girls.
The court also noted that the father and the grandmother of one of the girls had stated that they came to know about the harassment from the news telecast on the television as the girl had never made such a complaint to them.
Conditions imposed
To execute two bonds each for ₹2 lakh two sureties for the like sum, not try to influence the witnesses and tamper with evidences, not get involved in any criminal case in future, and surrender of passport were among the other conditions imposed on the seer.
