NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday in its order granted interim bail to a 23-year-old accused of raping a 40-year-old woman.
Noting that the 40-year-old woman was "not a baby" and "a single hand can't clap", the Supreme Court on Wednesday granted interim bail after observing that the charges had not been framed even though he has been in jail for nine months.
"On what basis have you (Prosecution and Delhi police) filed the case under Section 376 (Rape) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). She is not a baby. The woman is 40 years old. They have gone together to Jammu. Why have you invoked section 376? This lady goes to Jammu seven times and the husband is not bothered," observed a bench of the top court, led by Justice B V Nagarathna and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma.
Questioning the rationale of the step taken by the Delhi police in filing a rape case against the man, a social media influencer, the top court made a serious remark as to, when the woman had gone voluntarily with him, how the FIR can be registered by the Delhi police?
The top court was hearing the accused man's plea against an order of the Delhi High Court which dismissed his plea to grant him bail, after noting the seriousness of the allegations against the accused.
After the woman lodged a complaint, the Delhi police lodged against the accused man under various sections of the IPC, including rape, 506 (Criminal intimidation and 354 (Outraging the modesty of a woman) and currently the case was under investigation.