MP High Court Grants Bail on the Condition that the Applicant Observes the Rakshabandhan rituals with the complainant

Madhya Pradesh High Court’s Indore bench on Thursday, 30th July granted bail to an accused  in a sexual harassment case. 

As per the order, the condition for granting the bail is that the accused and his wife will visit the complainant on the day of Rakshabandhan with a box of sweets. He will request her to tie a Rakhi on his hand while promising to ‘protect her to the best of his ability for all times to come.’ 

That’s not all, the applicant was also directed to give her a sum of Rs. 11,000 as a customary offering and furnish a personal bond of Rs. 50,000 with one solvent surety in the like amount to the satisfaction of the trial court.

The order further stated that the accused Mr Vikram shall  tender Rs 5,000 to the son of the complainant for the purchase of new clothes and sweets. He was required to fulfill the conditions stipulated with respect to furnishing a personal bond too.

Justice Rohit Arya while issuing the order acknowledged the fact that applicant has already suffered sufficient jail incarnation for more than two months. He also stated that further custodial interrogation is not required. 

Moreover, the order mentions that the application to obtain evidence of receipts of payment made to the victim and her son should be filed through the counsel for placing the evidence on record. Justice Arya clarified that this deposit of money shall not influence the pending trial, but was only for an enlargement of application of the bail.

As per the prosecution, the victim who is a resident of Ujjain district lodged a complaint against her neighbour- the bail applicant on April 20. She  alleged that the neighbour had forcefully barged into her house and sexually harassed her. An FIR was consequently registered with Bhatpachalana police station in connection with outraging the modesty of the aggrieved woman under the Indian Penal code, 

Courts getting Creative in the Covid-19 situation

It seems that the Courts are getting creative while issuing their orders and directions. There have been various other peculiar conditional bails issued by the Madhya Pradesh HC. 

For instance, last month, MP High Court’s Gwalior Bench had granted bail to an ‘attempt to murder’ accused duo with a peculiar requirement. The condition was that they install a colour LED TV screen at the Gwalior District Hospital, which is manufactured anywhere other than China.

Before that, the same bench of the MP High Court in Gwalior had passed a series of orders granting bail to applicants in various criminal cases, by directing the bail applicants to register themselves with the respective district magistrates as ‘COVID-19 Warriors’ so that they are assigned suitable work taking all prescribed precautions. 

‘Human resource in the shape of young-aged Appellants could be utilized for the betterment of the society and to ward off the crises’, said Justice Sheel Nagu while imposing this bail condition in the case. 

In another case, the Madhya Pradesh HC had directed two accused to donate 5 litres each of alcohol-based sanitizers and 200 good quality masks each for the use of the para-medical staff of a district hospital in Dhar.