Abdul Ajeez v. State of Kerala
In the High Court of Kerala at Ernakulam
Bail Appl. 8244/2018
Before Justice Raja Vijayaraghavan V.
Decided on December 20, 2018

Relevancy of the case: Bail in a case involving Section 66E and 67A

Statutes & Provisions Involved

• The Information Technology Act, 2000 (Section 66E, 67A)
• The Indian Penal Code, 1860 (Section 34, 354)
• The Kerala Police Act, 2011 (Section 7, 19(b))
• The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Section 438)

Relevant Facts of the Case

• This case was an application for bail filed under Section 438 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.
• The complainant is the wife of the applicant. She was allegedly having a relationship with the 1^st accused.
• The first accused without the complainant’s consent or knowledge took some explicit photographs of them involved in a sexual act. These photographs were forwarded by the first accused to the complainant’s relative, i.e., the second accused who allegedly forwarded their photographs to the complainant’s brother.
• Although the relationship between the first accused and the complainant was consensual, he had circulated the photographs without her consent.
• The explicit photographs were also sent to the applicant by the 1st accused. The applicant allegedly sent these photographs to the complainant’s brother. The applicant is taken in as the third accused of the case.

Opinion of the Bench

• Having gone through the statements of the victim, it appears that the allegations are centred mainly against accused number 1 and 2. Even though there are allegations that the photographs were also sent to the mobile phone of the applicant, it appears that he has a very minor role in the case. The bench is of the view that the applicant can be pardoned from rigours of the custodial interrogation. However, the applicant will have to cooperate with the authorities for investigation.
• In the original FIR for the case, the applicant was not mentioned as an accused of the case. The complainant and first accused were in a relationship, however, the photographs were snapped by the first accused and the complainant admits this in the first information statement. The applicant was roped in later with a view to exculpate the first accused. 

Final Decision

• The application for bail stands allowed. The applicant shall appear before the Investigating Officer within ten days from the date of the judgement and shall undergo interrogation. Thereafter if proposed to be arrested, he shall be released on bail after payment of Rs 40,000.
• In case of the cancellation of the above orders, the court shall be entitled to consider the cancellation bail application.

This case summary has been prepared by Aditya Nair, a postgraduate student at NLIU, Bhopal, during his internship with The Cyber Blog India in June/July 2020.