All the 14 accused, arrested in connection with the molestation of two NRI women on new year day at suburban Juhu, were granted bail by a local court.
MUMBAI: All the 14 accused, arrested in connection with the molestation of two NRI women on new year day at suburban Juhu, were on Friday granted bail by a local court here.
Metropolitan Magistrate Madhav Bondre granted bail to all 14 persons on furnishing a surety of Rs 10,000.
Defence lawyers led-by Nagesh Joshi claimed that the accused, arrested late last night, were not hardened criminals and were ready to co-operate with the police investigations.
The prosecution asked for judicial custody as the identification parade by the witnesses was yet to be conducted.
However, Joshi argued it saying there is no need for it and showed readiness to appear for the parade as and when called by the police.
Earlier, the accused were presented in the court amidst tight security. They were remanded to judicial custody in the first session and later granted bail when their bail applications came up for hearing.
However, it is unlikely that the suspects will walk out today itself as it will take time for all of them to produce sureties by evening.
The arrested identified as - Dinesh Bagaitkar, Sudhir Naikwade, Kunal Jadhav, Shobby D'Souza, Ajay Marathe, Vaibhav Marathe, Sandip Panchal, Manoj Panchal, Sandip Shukla, Derek Jadhav, Swapnil Mandare, Siddharth Singh, Amit Kapoor and Ravindra Shukla - have been charged with outraging modesty of women, unlawful assembly, rioting, causing hurt and wrongful restraint.
Thirteen of them were picked up from suburban Vile Parle on a tip off while the fourteenth one surrendered at a police station.
The group of 13 people is said to have been on the Juhu beach, a popular spot for the revellers on New Year's Day, after consuming liquor.
The police have already claimed to have verified from the photographs that four of those arrested were involved in the act of molestation.
They have, however, said that apart from the photographic evidence, the police will be relying strongly on the statements given during the parade by the witnesses and circumstantial evidence to nail the accused. The police is also hopeful of getting a statement from victims.
Incidentally, Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra had announced earlier in the day that his government will be pressing for the setting up of a fast-track court to conduct the trial.
The women, hailing from Gujarat and settled in the US, were accompanied by two men when they were groped and molested by a mob of 50 men outside a five-star hotel in suburban Juhu when they had come out after watching a dance performance by actor Bipasha Basu on early hours of Tuesday.
Two photographers from a national English daily, who were passing by, managed to click photographs of the incident, leading to a public outcry.
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