Piyush Verma v. State of Chhattisgarh
In the High Court of Chhattisgarh
C.R.A 740/2020
Before Justice Gautam Chourdiya
Decided on January 4, 2021

Relevancy of the case: Bail application in a case involving gang rape allegations and threats to leak the video

Statutes and Provisions Involved

• The Information Technology Act, 2000 (Section 66D, 67A)
• The Indian Penal Code, 1860 (Section 363, 376, 376D(a), 376F)
• The Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act (Section 3(2)(v), 14)
• The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1972 (Section 439)

Relevant Facts of the Case

• The accused in the case, through a phone call, asked the prosecutrix to meet him, with the threat to leak her video over WhatsApp.
• The prosecutrix went to the police station and filed a complaint. Subsequently, the police arrested the accused.
• The trial court rejected the bail application, and the accused has thus appealed before the High Court.

Prominent Arguments by the Advocates

• The petitioner’s counsel argued that the accused is falsely implicated in this case. He has not committed any crime that the prosecution has alleged.
• The petitioner’s counsel also submits that the police did not recover any obscene video. There is no evidence that the accused was present during the gang rape of the prosecutrix.

Opinion of the Bench

• There is no evidence that the accused has committed any of the crimes, as no video was found.
• Moreover, there is no evidence to prove his presence. Therefore, apart from the threatening, under Section 354 of the Indian Penal Code 1860, there cannot be any other charge applicable against the accused.

Final Decision

• The bench accepted the bail application.

Marc Pereira, an undergraduate student at Rizwi Law College, Mumbai, prepared this case summary during his internship with The Cyber Blog India in January/February 2022.