New Delhi, Sep 19 (Always First) A Delhi Court on Tuesday granted Bail to the husband of a pilot with a private airline for allegedly assaulting their 10-year-old domestic help.

Additional Sessions Judge Shama Gupta, while granting bail to the Accused Kaushik Talapatra, 36, noted that the general rule is bail and not jail.

She said that serious allegations alone should not be the sole criterion for denying bail, and that custodial interrogation of the accused was unnecessary, and there was no risk of the accused fleeing from justice.

The court considered the accused’s submissions, which pointed out that his wife, Poornima, had already been granted bail on August 17.

The judge acknowledged that the allegations against the accused were serious but reiterated that bail should be the general rule, particularly when the purpose of bail is to secure the accused’s attendance at trial and allow for the completion of the investigation.

The court also noted that police custody had not been requested for Talpatra after his arrest on July 19, indicating that custodial interrogation was not required for the ongoing investigation.

Regarding the victim’s statement, the court noted that the allegations were that both the accused and his wife had assaulted her, but it also noted that the injuries near her eye and the burn were caused by Talpatra’s wife.

The court said that it was challenging at this stage to determine the specific acts committed by the accused persons. The judge said that in considering the bail plea, the court has to evaluate whether pre-trial detention would aid the investigation or if there were concerns about the accused fleeing or tampering with evidence.

In this case, the pending investigation was mainly related to obtaining a final medical opinion and recording the statement of the child victim’s father, so custodial interrogation of the accused did not seem necessary.

The court also considered that the accused had been working as an aircraft maintenance engineer before his arrest, making it less likely for him to flee from justice.

The judge granted bail to the accused on the condition of furnishing a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh with one surety of the same amount. Other conditions of bail included not contacting the victim, except for settling her dues, informing about any change of address, attending trial as required, providing mobile phone numbers to the Investigating Officer, and not leaving the country.

The 10-year old girl was employed by the couple, who allegedly beat her. This was noticed by a relative of the girl, which led to a crowd gathering at the residence of the couple and confronting and manhandling the couple.