Supreme Court: In a significant case, the Division Bench of Indira Banerjee and J.K. Maheshwari, JJ., upheld pre-arrest bail of actor-producer Vijay Babu who was alleged to have committed rape of an actress.
The Court, however, modified the bail condition that the accused can be interrogated for the next seven days i.e., from 27-06-2022 till 03-07-2022, and directed that the accused may be interrogated as and when necessary, even after 03-07-2022.
Vijay Babu was alleged to have committed rape on the victim, a struggling actress, with the promise of a role in a movie and also of marriage. He has allegedly even caused physical injuries to her. The prosecution further alleged that on coming to know about the registration of the crime, the applicant went abroad in an attempt to flee from the law.
Pertinently, by the impugned order, Single Judge of the Kerala High Court had granted pre-arrest bail to the accused by holding that there is no restriction in law that pre-arrest bail cannot be granted to a person sitting abroad; which was doubted by a co-equal Bench of the High Court. Consequently, the question as to whether pre-arrest bail can be granted to a person sitting abroad was referred to a larger Bench. Though the Supreme Court did not refer to the aforementioned question, it has upheld the grant of pre-arrest bail to the accused.
After considering the pleadings and other materials on record, the Court declined to interfere with the impugned order. The Court stated,
“We are also not inclined to interfere with the conditions imposed in the impugned order for grant of pre-arrest bail, except sub-paragraph (2) of paragraph 27 of the impugned order which reads as under:
(2) The petitioner can be interrogated for the next seven days i.e., from 27-06-2022 till 03-07-2022 (inclusive) from 09.00 AM till 06.00 PM every day, if required. The petitioner shall be deemed to be under custody during the aforesaid period for facilitating the requirements of investigation.”
Hence, the Court modified the bail condition by deleting the words “for the next seven days i.e., from 27-06-2022 till 03-07-2022 (inclusive)” and held that the accused may be interrogated as and when necessary, even after 03-07-2022.
The accused was directed to comply with all other conditions imposed by the High Court as also the conditions for grant of pre-arrest bail enumerated in Section 438(2) of the CrPC. Bail conditions affirmed by the Court are as follows:
- The accused shall not leave the State of Kerala without prior permission of the jurisdictional Court;
- shall appear before the Investigating Officer as and when called;
- shall not contact or interact with the victim or any of the witnesses;
- shall not indulge in any form of attack on the victim or her family through social media or any other mode;
- shall not harass, defame, denigrate or ridicule the petitioner or members of her family in any manner whatsoever or publish or post any comments, writing, picture, etc. in relation to the incident on social media or otherwise;
- shall not commit any other offence while on bail
- shall not, directly or indirectly, make any inducement, threat or promise to any person acquainted with the facts of the case so as to dissuade him from disclosing such facts to the Court or to any Police officer;
-
if the impounded passport of the accused is returned or if he is issued with a fresh passport, he shall immediately surrender the same to the Investigating Officer.
[x v. Vijay Babu, 2022 SCC OnLine SC 805, decided on 06-07-2022]
Advocates who appeared in this case :
Mr. Arjun Singh Bhati, AOR, Mr. C. K. Sasi, AOR, Advocate, for the Petitioner;
Mr. Siddharth Luthra, Sr. Adv., Mr. S. Udaya Kumar Sagar, Adv., Ms. Sweena Nair, Adv., Mr. Lakshay Saini, Adv., Ms. Anasuya Choudhury, Adv. and Mr. Angaj Gautam, Advocates, for the Respondent(s).
Also Read
Kerala High Court grants anticipatory bail to cine artist & producer Vijay Babu in a rape case
*Kamini Sharma, Editorial Assistant has put this report together
