5 min readMumbaiUpdated: Jul 9, 2026 04:10 PM IST
Invoking Lord Krishna’s birth in captivity, a special court in Nashik granted bail to Nida Khan, a TCS employee accused in the alleged religious coercion case, observing that no child should have to endure the trauma or social stigma of being born in prison.
Nida Khan, who is five months pregnant, was granted bail on Monday, over two months after her arrest. The detailed order, made available on Thursday, said it would be “just and proper” to exercise judicial discretion in her favour in the interest of her unborn child.
“It is not disputed that applicant Nida is five months pregnant. The trauma of taking birth in a prison like Lord Krishna or the social stigma attached to it is not sufferable to anyone. To avoid such a distressing situation, and for the welcoming and overall well-being of a newborn baby, it would be just and proper to exercise judicial discretion in favour of the applicant-accused,” special judge K G Joshi said in the order.
Khan is one of eight employees accused in the TCS Nashik case, in which Nashik city police registered nine FIRs between March 26 and April 3 alleging sexual harassment and religious conversion of colleagues at a TCS BPO office in Nashik. Khan, the only woman among the accused, was named only in the Deolali Camp FIR. She is accused of hurting religious sentiments and “influencing” a colleague to practice Islamic traditions by allegedly giving her a burqa and religious books and installing religious apps on her phone. She was arrested on May 7 from a house in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar after a sessions court rejected her anticipatory bail plea.
The court set several conditions on Khan, including prohibiting her from entering the workplace or residential vicinity of the complainant. It also prohibited her from contacting the complainant, any witness or anyone directly related to the case, or interfering with evidence. She has also been directed not to leave the country without the court’s permission and to inform the court and investigators of her address and contact number. The court warned that any breach of the conditions would lead to cancellation of bail.
Khan’s lawyer, Rahul Kasliwal, argued that since the chargesheet had already been filed, her continued custody was unnecessary. He also submitted that she was not named in the other FIRs and had no connection with the allegations of sexual assault and sexual harassment levelled against the other accused. Kasliwal further argued that the maximum punishment for the offence under Section 302 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (acts deliberately intended to wound religious feelings of any person) is three years and that Khan was willing to cooperate with the investigation.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Nashik Police is probing nine FIRs registered in connection with the alleged exploitation, attempted forced religious conversion, hurting of religious sentiments, molestation and mental harassment of female employees at the TCS unit in Nashik.
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The state, through the prosecutor, opposed the bail plea, arguing that the allegations were serious and that Khan had allegedly “brainwashed” the complainant by giving her a burqa, a book on Islam and installing religious apps on her phone. The prosecution also claimed that she was part of a larger criminal conspiracy, a charge Khan denied.
The court observed that while the allegations of sexual harassment were against co-accused Danish Shaikh and Tausif Akhtar, the allegations against Khan related to hurting religious sentiments and offences under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
The court said that while there was prima facie material supporting the allegations, including claims that Khan visited the complainant’s home and taught her namaz, a detailed examination of the evidence was not permissible at the stage of deciding a bail application. “The investigation is complete and the chargesheet has been filed,” the court noted.
On Monday, the court had rejected the bail plea of co-accused Danish Shaikh, observing that he had ‘gained the victim’s trust by lying to her and promising marriage, subsequently engaging in sexual relations with her, despite he is already married and thereby deceived her’. It had granted bail to Akhtar, but he remains in custody as he is arrested in another FIR.
