The Karnataka High Court on recently granted bail to five men arrested for allegedly issuing online rape and death threats to former Member of Parliament and actress Divya Spandana, popularly known as Ramya [Pramodh K & others Vs State of Karnataka].
Justice Shivashankar Amarannavar granted bail after observing that most of the alleged offences were bailable and that custodial interrogation was unnecessary, since the investigation is already complete.
The Court further noted that the accused were young and their phones (evidence) had already been seized for investigation.
Those who have been granted bail are Chinmay S Shetty (18 years), Obanna T (25), Gangadhar KM (19), Rajesh CY (23), and Manjunath (22).
The Court also granted anticipatory bail to one Vikas BA (28), who apprehended his arrest in the same case since his Instagram ID was among the social media accounts flagged during the investigation of the matter.
Ramya had earlier taken to social media to share an opinion expressed by the Supreme Court during the hearing of a petition filed by the State to cancel bail granted to actor Darshan, an accused in the Chitradurga Renukaswamy murder case.
After her post, she started receiving abusive comments and threats from 43 anonymous social media accounts.
A criminal case was registered in the matter by the Bengaluru Cyber Crime Police, and several arrests were made.
Some of these accused eventually moved the High Court for bail.
Their counsel argued that since the alleged offence occurred through online accounts, there is no possibility that evidence will be tampered with if the accused were released on bail.
They added that the accused were young students and that it is unlikely that they would pose any threat to actress Ramya once released on bail, since she is a well-known and influential figure.
The State argued that the case involves serious allegations and that the accused may threaten witnesses or even the complainant if they are allowed to be released on bail.
After considering the rival submissions, the Court eventually granted the accused bail/ anticipatory bail subject to the furnishing of a personal bond of ₹1 lakh each.
The accused were also instructed not to threaten actress Ramya or any other witnesses, while out on bail, to cooperate with the investigation and to duly attend the trial court proceedings.
Advocates Satyanarayan Chalke, Girish R and Sharath S Gowda appeared for the petitioners/ accused.
Additional Special Public Prosecutor B Pushpalatha appeared for the State.
Advocate Shesha Karthik Reddy represented Ramya.
[Read Order]