Victim v. Sudheer Sharma
In the High Court of Madhya Pradesh
Crl. A. 8014/2019
Before Justice Atul Sreedharan and Justice J.P. Gupta
Decided on October 22, 2019

Relevancy of the case: Appeal against acquittal in a case involving allegations of sexual exploitation, recording the act, and blackmailing

Statutes and Provisions Involved

• The Information Technology Act, 2000 (Section 67, 67A)
• The Indian Penal Code, 1860 (Sections 354A, 376(2)(f), 506(2))

Relevant Facts of the Case

• The accused was married to the cousin of the victim. The accused started sexually exploiting the victim since she was a minor.
• In 2014, the accused had sexual intercourse with the victim (turned major) despite resistance and made a video.
• After this incident, the accused threatened the victim not to disclose it otherwise he would kill her parents.
• The accused then sent the video clippings to the victim’s father-in-law and broke her engagement.
• The accused was held liable under Section 506(2) of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and 67A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 and acquitted for the charges of 376(2)(f) and 354A of the Indian Penal Code, 1860.

Prominent Arguments by advocates

• The petitioner’s counsel submits that the trial court’s judgement that the relationship was consensual was wrong.
• They went on to say that the petitioner could not understand the intentions of the respondent.

Opinion of the Bench

• The court opined that the judgement by the trial court was not a legal error in concluding that the sexual intercourse was consensual.
• The charges are not proved beyond a reasonable doubt.

 Final Decision

• The appeal stood rejected.
• The judgement of the Sessions Court was upheld.

This case summary has been prepared by Anushka Ojha, an undergraduate student at Bharati Vidyapeeth New Law College, Pune, during her internship with The Cyber Blog India in May/June 2021.