Union State Home Minister Bandi Sanjay Kumar’s son Bandi Sai Bageerath has knocked on the door of the Telangana High Court seeking anticipatory bail in the criminal proceedings against him under various sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act.
Petbasheerabad Police of Cyberabad Commissionerate issued an FIR (684/2026) against Bageerath on allegations of intoxicated sexual advances on a 17-year-old girl at a farm on the intervening night of 31 December 2025 and 1 January 2026. The complaint was lodged by the girl’s mother. Since the HC is on summer vacation, the criminal petition filed by him is likely to be heard in the Vacation Bench on Thursday.
The police invoked sections 74 (assault or use of criminal force on a woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 75 (sexual harassment) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). Investigators have also invoked Section 11 (sexual harassment) read with 12 (punishment for sexual harassment) of the POCSO Act, 2012, against the 23-year-old accused Bageerath.
Mr Bageerath claimed that a charge sheet filed against the alleged victim for “underage driving” (without a licence) in 2021 recorded her age as 15 and described her as a ninth standard student. This indicates that she is currently over 18 years of age, the petitioner said. His attorney sent a representation to investigators on Monday to verify and determine the age of the “victim” on charge 304/2021 (relating to her juvenile driving case).
Claiming that his father’s political opponents and “various powerful and influential persons” were demanding his arrest, the petitioner withheld the impending arrest. Claiming that the sections invoked against him were non-bailable, he asked the HC to grant him anti-arrest bail using Section 482 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS).
Mr. Bageerath said the allegations leveled against him by the victim’s mother were self-contradictory. Alleging that her daughter was molested and sexually propositioned by the accused, the victim’s mother claimed in the complaint that he and her daughter were in a relationship till January 7, 2026, even after the alleged crime was committed, he said.
‘Sections changed’
In the motion, he stated that he had reliably learned that, at the behest of the victim’s mother, the investigators were amending sections of the law to make them more serious in nature so that he would be denied bail. He claimed that he had no criminal record and that there were no criminal proceedings against him.
Published – 12 May 2026 20:49 IST
