SC relief for man accused of rape after land grab complaint

A gram pradhan in Uttar Pradesh accused of rape by a woman against whom he had filed a complaint for encroaching on a village pond, has been granted bail by the Supreme Court.

Shaukeen's counsel Ashish Dixit told the top court that Mohammad Shaukeen, who was elected Gram Pradhan of Tedwa Panchayat in Lucknow district in 2015, had learnt about a woman and her husband having illegally grabbed a village pond and trying to sell it off with the help of property dealer.

On checking, Shaukeen found the information to be true and thereafter in July 19, 2016 requested the Lucknow District Magistrate to take action against them so that the land is not sold.

The District Magistrate also conducted an enquiry and found that the land belonging to pond was illegally acquired.

The Land Administration Officer filed a case against the woman and her husband under Section 128 of Revenue Code in August 2016.

The Gram Sabha installed a notice on the disputed plot stating that the land belonged to the government and not to any private person. But the woman and her husband removed the notice.

Shaukeen's counsel also told the top court that woman, with her associates, had sold seven such disputed plots and accumulated more than Rs 1.5 crore.

However, following the government action in the pond case, the woman's husband offered Shaukeen money to settle the matter which he rejected, said the counsel.

Shaukeen moved an application before the Collector, who passed an injunction order against woman's husband on April 2, 2018 and ordered maintaining a status quo on the land.

On April 13, 2018, the woman lodged a case against Shaukeen and his two associates alleging they had raped her in May 2017.

"The present case is a classic example where the complaint is ex-facie mala fide and is instituted maliciously in order to wreak vengeance on petitioner due to grudge arisen because the petitioner brought to light the illegal land grabbing by the woman and her husband," Shaukeen said in his plea seeking relief in the rape case.

He also submitted that in case criminal proceedings and rule of law are permitted to be abused in this manner, no public servant would be able to undertake his obligation in accordance with law.

Shaukeen had earlier approached the Allahabad High Court seeking relief. Though the High Court observed that there was possibility of falsehood as the incident happened in 2017 and the First Information Report was lodged in 2018, it refused to grant him bail in the case. 

Therafter, he approached the Supreme Court and succeeded in getting bail in the case on July 30. IANS