‘Rape’ case against Surat doctor: Kin of accused move Gujarat HC, challenge addition of Freedom of Religion Act sections to FIR
Surat rape case Gujarat HC plea challenges addition of Freedom of Religion Act sections to FIR, with accused doctor’s family alleging misuse and wrongful implication.
Surat rape case Gujarat HC petition has been filed by the accused doctor’s family, challenging the addition of Freedom of Religion Act sections to the FIR during investigation.
MEMBERS OF a Surat-based doctor’s family have moved the Gujarat High Court seeking the quashing of sections of the Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act 2003, added by the police to the original FIR against the doctor during investigations of rape charges against him. The family has also challenged the validity of the addition of these sections and themselves as accused, to the original case as part of “further investigations” by the police after filing of the charge sheet alleging “implication” due to “vengeance”.
The petition, filed by the family through advocate Utkarsh Dave, states that the six petitioners have been added as accused for offences under the Sections of the Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act, 2003, to an original FIR for alleged rape lodged against one member of their family at a police station in Surat Rural in May 2025. In the original complaint, on which the FIR is based, the victim has alleged rape by one member of the family of the petitioners – who is a medical practitioner – under the pretext of marriage. The petitioners before the HC include the parents, two sisters, an aunt and a distant relative of the original accused. The sections of the Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act have been invoked on the basis of an alleged application made by the original complainant stating that she had been “compelled to subscribe to the Christian religion, luring her on the pretext of marriage.”
The petition states, “The fatal implication of the petitioners alongside other suspects is only for the reasons of voluntarily having opted for the faith of ‘Christianity’. And for the reasons that they have been in proximity with each other, on religious occasions and gatherings. By portraying a tainted picture, havoc is raged by the complainant against genuine state of affairs.”
The petition states that “in the garb of ‘further investigation’ carried out by the investigating officer after filing of charge-sheet, two separate trajectories of crime which emanate on separate complaints are now being investigated as one.” The petition contends that the Investigating Officer sought the approval to invoke the Sections of the Freedom of Religion Act, 2003, based on a “mechanical order” passed by the magistrate court after the filing of chargesheet.
The original FIR states that the accused-doctor allegedly forged a physical relationship with the victim, a widow, assuring to marry her and also accept her daughter as his own. The complainant had stated that she had come in touch with the accused doctor during the medical treatment of her now-deceased husband and the two had allegedly “entered into an intimate relationship” as the accused had promised to marry her. However, following an alleged “unplanned pregnancy and its termination”, when the complainant insisted that the accused must perform a “court-marriage”, he started to maintain a distance.
The petition before the HC states that the original accused was granted anticipatory bail in June 2025 and that the complainant “deceitfully gave yet another written complainant dated 30.06.2025 before the Mandvi Police Station… (raising) further allegations that, on account of the fact that since the original accused wanted to get married only to someone from the ‘Christian’ community, the original complainant agreed to visit the Church… attended programmes of the Christian community, wherein upon being asked, the complainant volunteered to join the Christian religion. Accordingly, she participated in a ritual at Lakhi Dam led by (the father of the original accused) … and upon completing the ritual, she was informed that she had joined the Christian religion.”
The petitioners have stated in the petition that the additional sections invoked as part of “further investigations” seek to “add a separate” angle to the investigation and “wreak vengeance and implicate the family of the original accused in one way or another.”
Aditi Raja is an Assistant Editor with The Indian Express, stationed in Vadodara, Gujarat, with over 20 years in the field. She has been reporting from the region of Central Gujarat and Narmada district for this newspaper since 2013, which establishes her as a highly Authoritative and Trustworthy source on regional politics, administration, and critical socio-economic and environmental issues.
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