Violates privacy: Allahabad High Court pulls up lawyer for attaching woman’s ‘indecent’ screenshots to bail plea

Justice Krishan Pahal deprecated the counsel.

Bail rejected

The prosecution had alleged that the accused engaged in physical relationship with the woman after spiking her water and recorded the act. It was further alleged that thereafter he began blackmailing her by demanding Rs 20 lakhs for deleting the said video. The prosecution alleged that the accused subsequently posted the video on social media.

The counsel for the bail applicant submitted that the accused was innocent and was falsely implicated in the case.

He argued that the accused had nothing to do with the alleged offence as described in the FIR and that the mobile number mentioned in the allegations did not belong to the accused, and the identity of the owner of the said number was yet to be established.

It was also submitted that the accused had no criminal history and had been in custody since December 6, 2024.

On the other hand, the counsel for the informant and the state law officer opposed the bail application on the ground that there was a recovery of alleged indecent screenshots posted on social media platforms.

The counsel also pointed out that the alleged indecent screenshots was appended as annexure to the affidavit filed along with bail application.

At the outset the court noted there was a recovery of alleged indecent screenshots posted on social media platforms, therefore it wasn’t a fit case for bail.

“Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, submissions advanced by learned counsel for the parties and taking into consideration the fact that there is a recovery of alleged indecent screenshots posted on social media platforms, I do not find it a fit case to release the applicant on bail,” the court noted.

Accordingly the court dismissed the bail plea of the accused.

Before parting with the case the court slammed the bail applicant’s counsel for appending the alleged screenshots of the woman.

“The act of appending the alleged screenshots of the victim to the bail application by the counsel for the applicant is deprecated and cannot be condoned,” the court remarked.

The court directed the trial court to expedite the proceedings.

“It is directed that the aforesaid case pending before the trial court be decided expeditiously, in view of the principle laid down in the recent judgements of the Supreme Court in the cases of Vinod Kumar vs. State of Punjab 2015 and hussain and another vs. Union of India (2017), if there is no legal impediment,” the court ordered.