The Madhya Pradesh High Court has granted anticipatory bail to a rape accused while directing him to surrender his electronic devices and share passwords to his social media accounts with the Bhopal police for investigation.
Justice Devnarayan Mishra, in his February 5 order, granted pre-arrest bail to the accused, an engineer, who was booked for allegedly engaging in a sexual relationship with the victim under the false pretense of marriage. The prosecution opposed the bail, alleging that the accused 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 relief while imposing strict conditions.
“It is directed that in the event of arrest, the applicant shall be 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,” the Court stated.
Further, the Court mandated the accused to return all alleged intimate photographs and documents related to the victim to both her and the investigating agency.
“Applicant shall also hand over all his 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 handed over to the victim and agency,” the order stated.
The Court directed the investigating agency to retrieve the required data and return the devices to the accused thereafter.
