Delhi High Court grants anticipatory bail to 20-year-old accused of raping his professor on pretext of marriage

The Delhi High Court recently granted anticipatory bail to a 20-year-old student accused of raping his 35-year-old professor on false pretext of marriage. .Single-judge Justice Saurabh Banerjee observed that the prosecutrix (professor) was a mature woman of around 35 years who had a relationship with the accused when he was a young boy of about 20 years. She was previously married and going through a divorce, the Court further noted, before granting pre-arrest bail to the accused student."Prima facie, it seems that she was in a relationship with the applicant (accused) out of choice and desire rather out of compulsion or force. More so, whence she out of her own sweet will voluntarily chose to proceed with the applicant with open eyes, open ears and an open mind," the Court held..According to the first information report (FIR), the woman had met the accused in February 2022 at the college where he was a student. The woman claimed that in May 2022, while she was on a work trip to Manali, they had a small wedding ceremony at a temple where the boy promised to have a legal marriage with her at some point in the future..The woman further claimed that on June 4, 2022, she met the student's family at his home and that they had no objections to their marriage.According to the FIR, after learning about the woman's pregnancy in April 2023, the accused and his family pressured her to have an abortion, which he facilitated with a pill.In June 2023, the woman discovered she was pregnant again and on July 1, 2023 but the accused took ₹2,50,000 from her and left. The next day he scheduled an appointment for the prosecutrix with a gynecologist in Gurgaon on July 4, 2023, which was their last interaction..The counsel for the accused argued that he had no intention to harm or threaten the prosecutrix. He contended that the prosecutrix has shown her intent to intimidate the accused and his family on multiple occasions. Further, he argued that the FIR was filed solely to harass the accused who is a 20-year-old student at the college where the prosecutrix worked as a professor.On the other hand, the counsel for State opposed the bail plea in light of the heinousness of the alleged offences..The Court noted that while dealing with rape cases, it must recognize the severity of the crime and the corresponding punishment. However, it must also carefully consider the specific details, circumstances, background and whereabouts relevant to the case in addition to the overall context, the Court added..The prosecutrix was admittedly having a ‘guru-shishya’ relation with the applicant and that she was well aware of the repercussions of entering into a relationship with a student who was not old enough to marry, the Court said."It would not be wrong for this Court to conclude at this stage that the prosecutrix was/ is someone who is having more than average intelligence and who was/ is well aware of the rights of a married woman and that the applicant had not reached marital age yet. It would also not be wrong for this Court to infer that she was/ is well aware of the repercussions of entering into a relation with such an underage individual ‘Student’," the Court remarked.The Court proceeded to arrive at a prima facie opinion that the prosecutrix had willingly entered and sustained a relationship with the accused for over a year..The Court also rejected an argument that the accused was a "proclaimed offender" and, therefore, not entitled to maintain a plea for bail. The Court pointed out that he was only a "proclaimed person" who was avoiding arrest under Section 82 (1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and that he had not been declared a "Proclaimed Offender" under Section 82 (4) of the CrPC..The Court concluded that the student had made out a prima facie case for the grant of bail. "Even otherwise, this Court is not required to critically analyze the evidence on record at the stage of considering grant of anticipatory bail to the applicant," the single-judge said..Thus, the Court allowed the anticipatory bail application with certain conditions including the furnishing of a personal bond of ₹1,00,000 along with one surety of a like amount..Senior Advocate Pramod Kumar Dubey along with advocates Abhik Chimni, Pallavi Garg, Anant Khajuri, Saharsh, Satyam Sharma, Aditi, Akshat Sharma and Riya Pahuja appeared for the accused.APP Meenakshi Dahiya appeared for State.Advocates Vikram Singh Jakhar, Mohit Yadav, Varnika Sharma and Saurabh Sharma appeared for prosecutrix..[Read Order]