NEW DELHI: The Allahabad high court has granted bail to a rape accused as the complainant “herself invited trouble” by agreeing to go to his house after consuming alcohol with friends.
The order, passed by justice Sanjay Kumar Singh, noted that being an MA student, the woman was “competent enough to understand the morality and significance of her act.”
“This court is of the view that even if the allegation of the victim is accepted as true, then also it can be concluded she herself invited trouble and was also responsible for the same. Similar stand has been taken by the victim in her statement. In her medical examination, the doctor did not give any opinion about the sexual assault,” the order read, according to news agency PTI.
“Considering the facts and circumstances of the case as well as keeping in view the nature of the offence, evidence, complicity of the accused and submissions of the learned counsel for the parties, I am of the view that the applicant has made out a fit case for bail,” it stated.
Earlier, the accused submitted it was an “admitted case” by the woman that she was an adult and resided in a PG hostel. She, of her own volition, went with her friends to a restaurant, where they consumed alcohol. Due to this, she became “very intoxicated.”
The counsel for the accused further argued the woman and her friends stayed in the bar till 3 am. As she needed support, she decided to go to the man’s house for rest.
Her allegation that the accused instead took her to his relative’s flat and raped her twice is false and against the evidence on record, the counsel told the court.
It was also argued that considering the facts of the case as disclosed by the woman, it is not a case of rape but might be a case of consensual relationship between them.
This comes days after the Supreme Court, on March 26, stayed another controversial Allahabad high court order which stated that grabbing a woman’s breasts and pulling the drawstrings of her pyjama “did not amount to attempted rape,” saying this reflected “total insensitivity” and “inhuman approach.”
The observations were made by justice Ram Manohar Narayan Mishra in a March 17 verdict.
