Mumbai: Bombay high court on Thursday cancelled the bail granted to a businessman who misbehaved with a woman in a lift and assaulted her along with his friends “to such an extent that she suffered a miscarriage”.Justice Neela Gokhale ordered Goregaon West resident Rhythm Goyal (25) to surrender before the trial court within “two days from today, failing which the police concerned are directed to arrest the respondent and produce him before the trial court…”The woman (33) challenged the Dindoshi sessions court’s Dec 8 order granting him bail. She works as a guest relation manager in an Andheri nightclub. She was eight weeks pregnant at that time. According to FIR, on Nov 15, after completing her shift, around 1.30pm she took the lift. Goyal accompanied by two men and a woman boarded it in an inebriated state. He pointed a laser torch at her inappropriately. When she objected, he abused her saying “It’s women like you who leave home to work at night”. She tried to take the torch from him. He hit her with it and was joined by his friends. One punched her on her nose, another tried to hit her with a liquor bottle. She pleaded with them to stop hitting her as she is pregnant. Goyal punched her on her stomach. She was rescued by bouncers and taken to a hospital where she learnt of her miscarriage.Goyal was booked under BNS sections including 89 (causing miscarriage without a woman’s consent). The sessions court granted him bail for non-compliance by police of BNSS sections pertaining to notice to appear and to inform grounds of arrest. From documents submitted by prosecutor Anamika Malhotra, Justice Gokhale observed that Goyal was issued a notice to appear before the police, and he and his father acknowledged receipt of grounds of arrest. She agreed with the woman’s advocates Bahraiz Irani and Shane Santos that the provisions apply to cases where the offence is punishable for a term less than or up to seven years, whereas Section 89 is punishable with life imprisonment or may extend to 10 years.Justice Gokhale said it is a settled law that while considering bail in serious criminal offence as “in the present case”, courts must consider factors including the nature of accusations and manner in which crime alleged is committed. While Goyal sought bail on merits, the trial court “limited its finding on the alleged procedural lapses”.There were witnesses who saw the woman with blood oozing from her head. “The applicant has lost her child on account of the assault on her by the respondent… The trial court has ignored relevant material on record, failed to consider the gravity of offence and misconstrued provisions… of BNSS,” she concluded. She refused to stay the order for 3 weeks.
