Delhi court grants bail to TV actor in house party rape case

In its order, the court observed that the actor could not be kept behind bars on the grounds that he may commit a similar arrest in the future

A Delhi court granted bail to a TV actor who is accused of raping a woman at a house party in north Delhi’s Civil Lines last month, and questioned the police over his delayed arrest.

The bail was granted by Additional Sessions Judge Bhupinder Singh of Tis Hazari Courts on September 10 and made public on Sunday. (Shutterstock)

In its order, the court observed that the actor could not be kept behind bars on the grounds that he may commit a similar arrest in the future, a contention made by the prosecution to oppose bail. The identity of the actor is not being revealed to protect the identity of the woman, who is acquainted with the actor.

“No previous involvement of the accused/applicant, in any offence whatsoever has been brought to the notice of the court. The investigations, filing of police report, and further proceedings may take some time and no purpose shall be served by keeping the accused/applicant behind the bars till such time,” the court said in its 11-page order.

The bail was granted by Additional Sessions Judge Bhupinder Singh of Tis Hazari Courts on September 10 and made public on Sunday.

The court also pulled up the police for failing to recover the actor’s mobile phone despite having custody of him for four days, noting that no search was carried out even as the records failed to establish that the accused did not cooperate in the investigation.

The actor, represented by advocates Deepak Sharma and Ravish Dedha, contended that the case was solely aimed at extorting money from him and that the allegations of rape were false. They said that at the party, which took place late at night on August 9, the complainant was intoxicated and got into a fight with two others and that the actor had stepped in to pacify and help the complainant.

They also contended that the complainant failed to raise an allegation of rape while initially approaching the Civil Lines police station due to the scuffle, and only made the allegation three days later.

The woman, represented by advocate Neha Kapoor, contended that the actor had entered the washroom while she was using it, on the pretext of helping, and raped her. She submitted WhatsApp chats between the accused and the woman to support her submissions.

Taking note of the contentions, the court said, “No efforts were made to make the accused/applicant join the investigation for a good 21 days and all of a sudden, the police served notice on August 30, with direction to join the investigation ‘forthwith’ and as per IO, a police team was sent to Goa/Pune to arrest the accused simultaneously”.

Noting that the actor was arrested on September 2, the court said that if he had to abscond — a contention police made while opposing the bail plea — he would have done so immediately on getting to know about a case being registered against him.

Imposing conditions, the court asked the actor to furnish a personal bond of ₹1 lakh and a surety of the like amount.