Priyanka Tiwari
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In a controversial bail order, the Allahabad High Court granted bail to a man accused of rape, stating the complainant had “invited trouble” upon herself. The remark was made by Justice Sanjay Kumar Singh, who observed that even if the victim’s allegations were accepted as true, her conduct contributed to the situation.
The accused was arrested in December 2024 after a woman filed an FIR alleging rape following a night out in Hauz Khas, Delhi.
Details of the Incident as Described in FIR
According to the FIR filed in September 2024, the complainant, a postgraduate student living as a paying guest in Delhi, had gone out drinking with friends at a restaurant in Hauz Khas on September 21. The group stayed at the venue until 3 am, by which point she became “very intoxicated”.
The court noted that the complainant stated she agreed to go to the accused's house to rest, allegedly due to his insistence. However, instead of taking her to his residence in Noida, the accused allegedly brought her to a relative’s flat in Gurgaon, where the complainant said she was raped.
Following the incident, she lodged a complaint at a Noida police station, which led to the man's arrest on December 11, 2024.
High Court's Reasoning for Bail Grant
In the order, the court stated:
“Even if the allegation of the victim is accepted as true, it can also be concluded that she herself invited trouble and was also responsible for the same.”
The court added that her medical report showed a torn hymen, but no definitive opinion of sexual assault was given by the examining doctor. The order also suggested that the facts point towards a consensual relationship rather than rape.
Broader Context and Recent Judicial Controversies
The order comes in the wake of another controversial ruling by the Allahabad High Court, where a judge held that grabbing a woman’s breasts or pulling her pyjama string did not constitute rape or attempted rape. That ruling also sparked widespread public and legal discourse on how courts interpret sexual assault laws.
The current ruling is likely to add to ongoing debates around victim-blaming in judicial reasoning and the broader treatment of sexual assault cases in India’s legal system.
