Supreme Court allowed an appeal for anticipatory bail filed by Kerala-based actor K.R. Jayachandran, who is accused of raping a four-year-old child. File
| Photo Credit: Sushil Kumar Verma
The Supreme Court on Thursday (March 27, 2025) allowed an appeal for anticipatory bail filed by Kerala-based actor K.R. Jayachandran, who is accused of raping a four-year-old child.
The 55-year-old actor, who was on the run, is also accused of offences under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
A Bench of Justices B.V. Nagarathna and S.C. Sharma set aside a Kerala High Court decision in January 2025 rejecting his plea for pre-arrest bail.
The top court had, on February 28, in an interim order, protected the actor, represented by senior advocate R. Basant and advocate A. Karthik, from any coercive steps by the police on the basis of the FIR registered at Kozhikode district.
Making the order absolute, the Bench, on Thursday, directed the appellant-actor to furnish a cash security of ₹25,000 with two sureties. It ordered him to fully cooperate with the probe and not abuse his liberty to derail the case by influencing the witnesses or tampering with the evidence. “Any infraction of the conditions shall entail cancellation of anticipatory bail granted to the appellant,” the court cautioned.
Mr. Basant, in the hearing, submitted that the actor was being made a scapegoat in a custody dispute between the child’s mother and her in-laws. His client had supported the mother, the child and her elder siblings during a time of crisis for them. He said the case was foisted on him as a means of harassment.
The Kerala State counsel pointed out that the actor had absconded, leaving the investigation inconclusive. The State said the case was a particularly serious one in which a “child of only four years has made serious allegations against the appellant”.
The State called for the custodial interrogation of the appellant.
The counsel for the mother of the child too intervened during the hearing, saying she had not initially supported the allegations but had later resiled her stand. She supported the plea of the State to dismiss the appeal for anticipatory bail. The respondents, which included the State of Kerala, were variously represented by senior advocate Jayanth Muth Raj, advocates Nishe Rajen Shonker, Zulfiker Ali P.S. and Jaimon Andrews, among other counsel.
However, despite their efforts, the court gave the actor relief after considering “the circumstances on record”.
Published – March 27, 2025 09:43 pm IST