Prayagraj (UP), February 16 The Allahabad High Court on Monday quashed criminal proceedings, including a chargesheet, against a government official for the offence of rape, observing that the allegation of forced sexual intercourse over a long period of time under the threat of making videos viral is prima facie not sustainable.
The judgment was delivered by Justice Avnish Saxena on a plea filed by Neeraj Kumar and another person under section 528 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) for the quashing of the chargesheet.
An FIR was lodged on December 1, 2024, against the accused. According to the complainant, her husband is in the Army. During her preparations for the Provincial Civil Services (PCS) exam, she became friends with one Mamta, who introduced her to her brother, accused no.1 Neeraj Kumar, the complainant had stated.
On August 7, 2022, Kumar invited the woman to the Rajrani Hotel on the Pilibhit bypass road in Uttar Pradesh's Bareilly to attend his birthday celebrations and raped her there, the complainant had alleged. She had also accused Kumar of making objectionable videos of her and threatening to make those viral.
According to the complaint, the accused again called the woman at the hotel on August 14, 2022, thereafter on October 27, 2022, and raped her on both occasions. She was called to the Radisson Bareilly hotel on November 18, 2023, where she was raped again, the complainant had alleged.
On May 19, 2024, the accused called the woman on her mobile phone and threatened to make the videos viral. Thereafter, he transferred the objectionable videos and photos to his cousin, applicant no.2, the complainant had alleged.
Kumar's cousin also threatened to make the videos viral and asked her for sexual favours. As she refused to oblige, he sent the videos and photos to her family members, the woman had alleged.
After going through the records of the case as well as the woman's statement, the court said that whether an act of sexual intercourse was consensual or forcible has to be considered in the light of other alleged facts stated by the victim herself.
“The victim herself has stated that she had not seen the videos on August 7, 2022. It is hard to believe that a married woman was consistently subjected to sexual intercourse at the hotel as she was afraid that her videos would be made viral by the accused applicant no. 1, who himself is a public servant,” the court said.
"A bare perusal of the FIR reveals that the appellant and the complainant first came in contact in 2017 and established a relationship thereafter. The parties met multiple times at various places during 2017 and 2019, including at parks and their respective houses,” it observed.
The court also said that even though the woman had stated that she was preparing for the PCS exam, there was nothing on record to show that.
“The victim herself has stated that she met applicant no. 1 at his residence and even outside. She came to attend the birthday of accused applicant no. 1 at a hotel and subsequently, under duress that the video, which she had never seen, would go viral, succumbed to the alleged pressure.
“The record is silent about the transfer of any indecent video or photograph of the victim either to her husband or to family members. There is no CCTV footage of the hotel. All these facts show that the victim is a consenting party, whose consent was neither obtained for the fear of death of her children nor on blackmailing her with indecent video and photographs," it added.
Quashing the proceedings, the court said, "The accused applicant no.2 has also been roped in in this case. There is no evidence even against the accused applicant no.2 that he has ever transferred any video or photo of the victim or used it for the purpose of blackmailing her."
