Hyderabad, September 29: The anticipatory bail petition of controversial circle inspector N Ch Rangaswamy of Madannapeta in Hyderabad has been rejected by the additional district judge of Ranga Reddy.
Rangaswamy, has been on the run for the last few weeks in a case in which he was charged with raping a minor girl. The girl happens to be the daughter of a constable working under him. The police has shown no alacrity in tracking the errant cop.
Strangely, Rangaswamy’s lawyer argued before the sessions court that his client had sex with the minor girl with her consent only. Public prosecutor (PP) P Ravindar Reddy objected to this consent theory being put forward by the CI because it is common knowledge for any responsible police officer that sex with minor even under the guise of consent is unacceptable to law and it precisely falls under the category of rape.
The PP further told the court that this errant circle inspector was claiming to have married the 16-year-old girl despite the fact he is already married and has three children. “The CI drove the victim to a lonely place in a car and raped her in the car itself”, the PP contended. “The so called marriage, the tying of Mangalsutra, too, took place in the same car,” he said. “A circle inspector doing all this is highly objectionable,” he added.
Brushing aside the arguments of the counsel for Rangaswamy that a husband’s sex with his minor wife cannot be described as a crime, additional metropolitan sessions judge, Ramana, dismissed the anticipatory bail plea of Rangaswamy. “At this stage, he is not entitled for any bail in view of the gravity of the case and also in view of the status of the accused,” the judge said in his order.
–Agencies