The Supreme Court on Friday denied bail to Seema Rani Khakha, wife of suspended Delhi government officer Premoday Khakha, in a case of an alleged sexual assault of a minor girl.
Pramoday Khakha is accused of allegedly raping a girl several times between November 2020 and January 2021. The girl was the daughter of a person known to the accused, the police said. His wife, Seema Rani, is accused of giving her medicine to terminate her pregnancy.
While refusing to grant bail, the bench led by Justice BV Nagarathna, however, granted liberty to Seema Rani Khakha to move the trial court to seek bail.
Seema Rani had moved the top court after the Delhi High Court denied her bail, stating that the case strikes at the root of trust between two families and that the potential for witness tampering could not be ruled out at this stage.
The couple were arrested after the survivor had recorded her statement before a magistrate at a hospital.
Premoday Khakha was a deputy director in the WCD department. He was the girl’s local guardian and the girl used to call him ‘mama’ (maternal uncle).
Delhi Police also lodged an FIR against the accused and his wife on charges of rape under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. The wife, Seema Rani Khakha, was charged with giving her medicine to terminate the pregnancy.
IPC sections 506 (criminal intimidation), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 313 (causing miscarriage without woman’s consent) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) have also been invoked in the case, police said.