Kerala HC rejects plea of Monson Mavunkal in a rape case

KOCHI

The Kerala High Court on Thursday dismissed a bail petition filed by Monson Mavunkal, a fake antiquity dealer, in a case relating to raping a woman staff who had worked at his office.

The prosecution case was that the survivor, who was a staff of the accused, was raped on different days from January 11, 2020 to September 24, 2021, at the house of the petitioner.

Monson in his bail petition said that he had been in custody since November 06, 2021. He said that even if the entire allegations were assumed to be correct, still, an offence under section 376(rape) of the Indian Penal Code was not made out.It could at the most, reveal only a consensual sexual relationship.

Opposing the bail plea, Grashious Kuriakose, Additional Director General of Prosecution submitted that considering the peculiar nature of the case and the enormous influence that the petitioner could wield over the gullible witnesses which included her brother and mother, the petitioner ought not to be granted bail.

Dismissing his bail plea, Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas observed that the petitioner was admittedly involved in various crimes, including three cases of rape. The trial of one case under section 376 Indian Penal Code coupled with the offence under the POCSO Act for having raped a minor was already underway. The minor survivor was alleged to have been raped several times even after she turned 18 years.

The court pointed out that several cases were alleged to have been committed by him. The nature of the accusation and the severity of the punishment, apprehension of the prosecution about influencing the witnesses, the circumstances that were peculiar to the accused, and the larger interest of the public “all lean against the grant of bail to the petitioner”.