Madhav Krishna Vasave v. State of Maharashtra
In the High Court of Bombay
ABA 1217 / 2021
Before Justice Sandeep K Shinde
Decided on June 04, 2021

Relevancy of the case: Anticipatory bail application in a case involving blackmailing for private videos and rape allegations

Statutes and Provisions Involved

• The Information Technology Act, 2000 (Section 66C)
• The Indian Penal Code, 1860 (Section 376(2)(n), 354(5), 417, 419, 427, 504, 506(2), 502)

Relevant Facts of the Case

• The accused was a traffic police officer who met the complainant and developed an intimate relationship with her. The accused had kept his marital status a secret.
• The accused borrowed ₹1,50,000 from the complainant and failed to return it. When she asked for the money, the accused abused the complainant.
• They broke the friendship but made up again. Later, they had sexual relations and intimate acts in hotels and various places. These acts were committed by the accused on the false pretext of marriage.
• The accused allegedly recorded these acts and threatened to send them to her family if she was not friends with him. Moreover, he also sexually assaulted her.
• The accused also broke the complainant’s phone and took her SIM card and SD card after sharing the videos with her.
• The complainant registered the complaint when the applicant used her sister’s Facebook account to send objectionable messages to her fiancé’s account.

Prominent Arguments by the Advocates

• The petitioner’s counsel submitted that all relations between the accused and the complainant were consensual; thus, the allegation of sexual assault is false. Also, the phone of the accused was given to the investigating officer, so there is no need for the accused to be kept in jail. Hence, bail should be given to him.
• The respondent’s counsel submitted that the broken phone, SIM card and SD card are all essential to the investigation to recover the videos.

Opinion of the Bench

• The bench held that if the relations between the accused and complainant were consensual. The accused has handed his phone to the Investigating Officer; there is no need to keep him in jail.
• The bench also requested the Forensic Laboratory to recover the videos and submit a report.

Final Decision

• The bench accepted the bail application with conditions.

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