On Wednesday, the Supreme Court granted bail to a man who was accused of kidnapping and raping his live-in partner. In response, he counter-alleged stating that the case filed against him was fake and filed on the instruction of his partner’s family.
A Two-Judges Bench (Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia) noted that the man and woman had come into a live-in relationship agreement. Along with that, they also filed a joint petition seeking police protection as they were an interfaith couple.
The Court also noted that the petitioner had been behind bars for nine months before he was allowed the bail plea.
The Court stated in its order, “Three factors weigh with us. The live-in relationship agreement of 25.8.2022, the parties filing a joint petition for police protection specially as an interfaith couple and the petitioner has already been in custody for about nine months.”
In the case, it is found that the petitioner is a 22-year-old man from Muslim family who came into a live-in relationship with an 18-year-old Hindu woman in August 2022. He also stated in his petition that both the parties were so close friends for a healthy period of around five years. Afterward their friendship took a romantic turn and they came into a romantic relationship.
The petitioner also claimed that the woman’s father filed a missing report of his daughter the day after the couple eloped. And the very same day, the couple filed a joint petition for police protection before the Rajasthan High Court.
After two days, the woman’s father lodged an FIR against the petitioner putting serious allegations of kidnapping and raping his daughter.
On August 30, 2022, the Rajasthan High Court ordered the State government to provide the couple police protection as an interim measure. However, the woman’s family took her back to home with them, on the day of the hearing.
On October 31, 2022, the petitioner got arrested due to police’s action of the FIR filed by the woman’s father. The petitioner was charged number many Sections like 366, 376, 384 and many others; also under Sections 3 & 4 of the POCSO Act.
Afterward, he filed a bail application in the court. When his plea got rejected, he moved to the Rajasthan High Court which also refused his bail. Then, he moved the Supreme Court.
In the Supreme Court, the petitioner highlighted that the woman’s statement under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) made it clear that the relationship between the man and woman was consensual. Due to this, it cleared that the allegations of kidnapping and rape were totally false, he said in the Court.
The live-in relationship agreement was also presented by the petitioner. Furthermore, he also highlighted that even after spending five years in jail, the prosecution couldn’t bring such material on record which could prove him guilty.
The Court considered the above facts as well as noted them in order to grant bail to the petitioner.
From the petitioner’s side, the Advocate-on-Record (AoR) was Namit Saxena, with advocates Awnish Maithani, Shivam Raghuwanshi, and Shiksha Ashra.
However, the respondents were represented by AoR Milind Kumar, along with advocates Vishal Meghwal, Padhmalakshmi Iyengar, Jagdish Chandra Solanki, and Yashika Bum.
Source: https://www.barandbench.com/news/litigation/supreme-court-bail-rape-interfaith-live-in-partner-family-fake-case