The Bombay High Court has held that the statutory bar on anticipatory bail for alleged rape of a girl under 16 is not an absolute jurisdictional prohibition, but leaves only a narrow preliminary window.
The Nagpur bench said a court may examine whether the complaint and material disclose the essential ingredients of the offence. It cannot, at that stage, conduct a detailed assessment of credibility or evidence.
The ruling came in two applications involving girls aged 15 years and five months, and 14 years and four months. The allegations included pregnancy in one case and threats involving obscene material in the other.
Finding prima facie material in both matters, the court held that the bar under Section 482(4) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita operated. It rejected the applications as not maintainable.