The Madhya Pradesh High Court has directed a rape accused to surrender his electronic devices and provide passwords to his social media accounts to the Bhopal police.
Justice Devnarayan Mishra issued the order while granting anticipatory bail to the accused, who was booked for allegedly engaging in a sexual relationship with a woman under the false pretense of marriage.
Opposing the bail plea, the prosecution argued that the accused, an engineer, had shared the victim’s photographs with his friends. The victim, also an engineer, had been in a relationship with the accused from 2010 to 2018, but the FIR was lodged only last year.
Taking these factors into account, the Court decided to grant pre-arrest bail to the accused.
"It is directed that in the event of arrest, the applicant shall be Rs.50,000/- enlarged on bail on furnishing a personal bond in a sum of Rs.50,000/- (Rupees Fifty Thousand Only) with one surety in the like amount to the (Rupees Fifty Thousand Only) satisfaction of the Arresting Officer for his appearance before him during the course of investigation or before the trial Court concerned during trial, as the case may be," the February 5 order said.
The Court took an additional step by ordering the accused to hand over all documents and intimate photographs of the victim, allegedly in his possession, to both her and the investigating agency.
"Applicant shall also hand over his all electronic gadgets like mobile, laptop etc. to the investigating agency along with the password of his all social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, whatsapp etc. for the investigation and if any objectionable material is found, it shall be hand over to the victim and agency," the Court ordered.
The Court further directed the investigating agency to return all the accused's gadgets after retrieving the necessary data.
Advocate Qasim Ali represented the petitioner (accused). Advocate Pratyush Tripathi represented the complainant.
Advocate BK Upadhyay represented the State.
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