The Supreme Court today has dismissed the plea filed by a rape victim against the anticipatory bail granted to accused journalist.
A bench led by Justice Navin Sinha and Justice Ajay Rastogi heard a plea which has been filed by 22 year old woman for cancellation of anticipatory bail of ET Now anchor Varun Hiremath.
The 22-year-old has accused that Varun Hiremath has rape and assault her in a five star hotel in Chanakyapuri, New Delhi, she claims that she knew him but never consented to any of his advances.
Adv. Nitya Ramakrishnan appeared for the prosecutrix and submitted that in the lobby of the 5 star hotel the prosecutrix made it clear to the accused that see does not want any kind of intimacy. She also submitted that in the hotel room despite of the prosecutrix repeated denial the penetrative act was done by the accused without the consent of the prosecutrix.
The bench denied the plea of prosecutrix by saying that by the section 164 (Cr.PC) statement of the prosecutrix it is prima facia evident that she gave the consent. And the bench made the observation that, “if a man and woman are in a room, and if man makes a request and the woman accepts it. Does there anything left to it?”
It is pertinent to mention that A FIR under IPC sections 376 (punishment of offence of rape), 342 (punishment for wrongful confinement) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) was registered at Chanakyapuri police station on 23 February in this regard.
The Delhi High Court had on May 13, 2021, granted pre-arrest bail to Mumbai based TV journalist. The single-judge bench of Justice Mukta Gupta had granted the pre-arrest bail to a Journo Varun Hiremath. His anticipatory bail application was rejected by Additional Sessions Judge at the Fast Track Courts in Patiala House Court bail earlier this year. The Court proceedings were held in Camera. The court previously had extended the interim protection granted to Hiremath. The complainant woman in the TV journalist Varun Hiremath Rape case has sought a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe in the matter.
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In her new plea, the complainant woman has sought court’s direction to call for the status report of the investigation carried out by the Delhi Police and transfer the matter for further probe to the CBI or any other investigation agency. The complainant woman while seeking this direction from the high court has cited eight major discrepancies in the probe conducted by the Delhi Police.
Senior Advocate Nitya Ramakrishnan and Advocate Jai Anant Dehadri appeared for the complainant woman while Hiremath was represented by Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal and Advocate Vijay Aggarwal.