BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court clarified that the accused under the Pocso Act cannot contend that he is entitled to a statutory bail if the investigation is not completed within 60 days as per Section 193(2) of BNSS. Justice M Nagaprasanna passed the order, rejecting the petition filed by one Govinda, seeking default bail on the ground that the investigation is not completed within the statutory period.
“The jurisprudence consistently underscores that timelines under special statutes like the Pocso Act are victim-centric, intended to ensure swift justice, not to furnish escape routes for the accused... The petitioner cannot draw sustenance from Section 193(2) of BNSS to claim statutory bail,” the court observed.
The court also said that the filing of a charge sheet without accompanying reports as those from the FSL or the CDR does not denude it of its character as a final report in the eye of law nor does it revive or confer upon the accused, a right to claim statutory bail.
Mentioning that deadline for filing of final report within 60 days in cases where alleged offences are punishable with imprisonment up to 10 years and 90 days while the punishment extends to 10 years or beyond, the court said that the charge sheet having been filed within 90 days in this case and its alleged incompleteness being of no legal consequence to the claim of default bail, the petitioner cannot be enlarged or set at liberty on the said ground.
The accused moved HC seeking bail, as the trial court declined to grant bail on two occasions in December 2025 and January 2026. He was booked under the provisions of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocity) Act and Pocso Act.
The daughter of the complainant was working as a housekeeping staff member in a hospital for about a year, and later she quit the job and began to work as domestic help in a house in the city. In October 2025, she committed suicide.
It was alleged that the accused was also a housekeeping staff in the same hospital where the victim was working. They were in love. The accused is said to have had a physical relationship with the deceased despite knowing that she was underage. The deceased was found to be pregnant at the time of her death. Therefore, the accused was arrested following the complaint and remanded to judicial custody in October 2025.