Gurpreet Singh v. State of Himachal Pradesh
In the High Court of Himachal Pradesh
Cr. M.P. (M) 204/2010
Before Justice Surinder Singh
Decided on March 30, 2010

Relevancy of the case: Bail application in a case involving clicking of nude pictures of teenage girls

Statutes and Provisions Involved

• The Information Technology Act, 2000 (Section 67)
• The Indian Penal Code, 1860 (Section 354, 363, 366, 376(2)(g), 506)
• The Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986 (Section 6)

Relevant Facts of the Case

• The petitioner along with other co-accused allegedly ravished the teenagers on two separate occasions when the complainant had gone to her school for an examination and was called outside by her friend. 
• The petitioner along with the co-accused was standing outside the school with his vehicle. He took the two teenagers towards Vikas Nagar in his vehicle on the pretext of a fun ride. They went to a lodge and the accused, Manjeet Singh, clicked nude photographs of both the teenagers on his mobile phone. 
• In November 2008, the accused blackmailed the two teenagers and raped them. The rumour of the nude pictures clicked by the accused spread in town. 
• Thereafter, one of the prosecutrixes lodged a complaint with the police. The prosecution witness had the nude photographs transferred on his mobile phone via Bluetooth which were handed over to the police. 
• During the investigation, it was revealed that the accused, Manjeet Singh, along with the petitioner had gang-raped the two teenagers. 
• However, the complainant and the prosecutrix alleged that their nude photographs were taken by the accused, Manjeet Singh, and specifically denied the allegation of rape by the petitioner.   

Opinion of the Bench

• The Court was of the view that, since the allegation of gang rape has been denied by both the complainant and the prosecutrix, and as he had not taken part in clicking the nude photographs of the two teenagers, the request for bail should be allowed to the petitioner.  

Final Decision

• Application allowed.
• Bail granted, subject to certain conditions.  

This case summary has been prepared by Shrawani Mohani, an undergraduate student at ILS Law College, Pune, during her internship with The Cyber Blog India in January/February 2021.