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Amit Mathur vs. State NCT of Delhi

Bail Application · 2026:DHC:7842Decided 15 Sept 2026New Delhi Bench
BAIL APPLN. 3861/2026CNR: DLHC010436092026
Justice Girish Kathpalia

Background

A 27-year-old man was accused of aggravated penetrative sexual assault on an 11-year-old girl who had come to his home to play with his own daughter. He had already spent 18 months in custody by the time of this bail hearing, and by then the child victim and her mother had both testified in the trial court fully supporting the prosecution's version of events. He argued that since their testimony was already recorded, keeping him in jail served no further purpose, and that he was not a flight risk and had always cooperated with the investigation.

Decision Breakdown

The Court held that the seriousness of the alleged offence, an adult exploiting a child's trust to commit sexual assault, outweighed the arguments about custody length and flight risk, especially once the victim and her mother had already given testimony fully supporting the prosecution's case. The Court also noted that an earlier defense theory (that the case was falsely filed due to a money dispute between the accused and the child's mother) had been quietly dropped by the defense without any supporting proof, undermining the accused's credibility. Bail was refused.

Lesson Learnt

In child sexual abuse cases, neither a long stretch of pre-trial custody nor a clean cooperation record with police will outweigh strong, court-recorded testimony from the victim and her family supporting the prosecution, especially where the offence involved a serious breach of trust.

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