A Kerala man accused in a sexual assault case over a 15-year-old girl was arrested for a second time on Thursday, October 27, for sexually assaulting the same girl again while out on bail. The accused Jithesh (22) was arrested for the second time on Thursday, and sent to remand on Friday. The Thaliparamba police in Kannur district arrested Jithesh after local residents informed that he took the 15-year old girl to a pump house.
Jithesh is a native of Kattakada in Thiruvananthapuram district. He befriended the girl, a Kannur native, on social media. According to the police, two months ago, he had taken the girl away from her home to different places. After the girl’s mother filed a missing complaint, the police traced the two of them and arrested Jithesh in June.
A Thaliparamba police officer told TNM that Jithesh was let out on bail two weeks ago, and his visit to Thaliparamba this week was in violation of a bail condition barring his entry into Kannur district. Jithesh has now been booked again under the same sections, and a report will now be sent to the court, seeking the cancellation of his bail.
Jithesh was earlier arrested in a case registered under sections 364A and 363 (kidnapping) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC, and under sections 7 and 8 (sexual assault) of the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act.
In an unrelated case, the Supreme Court on Thursday had set aside an order of the Kerala High Court granting anticipatory bail to an accused under the POCSO Act. The SC held that anticipatory bail cannot be granted merely because custodial interrogation is not required. The SC court bench critcised the HC order saying: "There may be many cases in which the custodial interrogation of the accused may not be required, but that does not mean that the prima facie case against the accused should be ignored or overlooked and he should be granted anticipatory bail.” The counsel's complainant submitted to the Supreme Court that the high court had wrongly exercised its direction while granting anticipatory bail to the accused.