Delhi court denies anticipatory bail to professor accused of rape, threatening student with videos

A Delhi court has denied anticipatory bail to a university professor accused of raping a former student and threatening to circulate her objectionable videos, saying that the WhatsApp chats between them indicated coercion and intimidation rather than merely a past consensual relationship.

“In case the accused is granted anticipatory bail, there is a substantial risk of influencing or threatening the victim, risk of tampering with the electronic evidence and possibility of repetition of threats or coercive contact,” Additional Sessions Judge Gomati Manocha said.

The court, which was hearing a plea moved by the professor, directed that the investigation be assigned to a named senior police officer to ensure a fair probe and preservation of electronic evidence.

It also asked the investigating officer to examine the allegation that the accused or his associates are pressurising the prosecutrix not to pursue the case.

In an order dated October 12, the court said, “This court considers it necessary, in the interest of justice, that the investigation be assigned to a named senior officer so that proper investigation can be done to obtain and preserve original mobile phones…. to ensure fairness to both the victim and the accused.”

The court said the alleged creation of objectionable recordings and threats to make them viral raised concerns about the possibility of witness tampering and continued pressure on the complainant.

The woman alleged that the accused, who is a former Delhi University professor, sexually exploited her on multiple occasions on the false promise of marriage and threatened to circulate her objectionable videos if she refused to comply with his demands.

She also alleged that he established sexual relations with her after administering a stupefying substance and recorded objectionable videos without her consent.

The accused denied the allegations, claiming that they had been in a consensual relationship for over three years. His counsel argued that the FIR was a counterblast to a separate case registered following an alleged assault on him in July.

Rejecting the plea, the court said the exchange of affectionate and sexual messages did not conclusively establish free and informed consent to every alleged sexual act.

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It also observed that the position of the accused as the complainant’s teacher was a material circumstance in assessing possible power imbalance, coercion and intimidation.

The court said there was a substantial risk of the accused influencing or threatening the complainant, tampering with electronic evidence and repeating threats if granted anticipatory bail. It also noted the possible need for custodial interrogation to collect electronic evidence relating to the storage and transmission of the videos.

“The investigating officer shall also examine the allegation that the accused or his associates are pressurising the prosecutrix not to pursue the case and shall record statements of the persons having knowledge of such pressure,” the judge said.

The court directed the police to preserve original mobile phones, complete WhatsApp chats, metadata, cloud backups and forensic images.

The Delhi Commissioner of Police was asked to take necessary action and submit a report on assigning the investigation to a named senior officer to the jurisdictional magistrate within 15 days.