While granting bail to the accused, the court asked him to not visit the locality of complainant and find an alternate address to reside. THE DELHI High Court has granted anticipatory bail to a person accused of attempted rape by a woman, while observing that there appears to have been a delay in registering a complaint in the case. The HC said the complaint seems to have been lodged “on the basis of the quarrel between neighbours”. As per the complainant, police had advised her against making the allegation of attempt to rape. The case was registered by police only after the complainant in her statement under CrPC Section 164 alleged that the accused on March 10 used abusive language against her, “unzipped his pants and asked her to zip it up for him”. On refusal, the complainant alleged, the accused slapped her and touched her private parts. The accused and some others also entered her house, but she raised an alarm, as per the statement. The court, in its order, noted that as per a complaint first registered by the woman on March 11, on the occasion of Holi a day prior, some of her neighbours had quarrelled with her and her family, but the matter was resolved later. On March 11, three boys had entered into a brawl with her brother regarding the previous day’s quarrel and used abusive language, the woman alleged in another police complaint on March 12, which lead to the registration of the FIR. However, in her statement before the magistrate on July 30, the court noted that she alleged an incident of attempted rape on March 10, following which IPC Section 376 was added to the FIR. When asked why the allegation was not recorded earlier, the woman told the High Court that police officers “had advised her not to do so and had changed her complaint in the police station”. “Prima facie, it appears there is a delay on the part of the complainant in lodging the complaint regarding the offence of an attempt to rape. It does also appear that the FIR in question has been lodged on the basis of the quarrel between neighbours,” Justice Vibhu Bakhru said in the order. While granting bail to the accused, the court asked him to not visit the locality of complainant and find an alternate address to reside. The court also restrained him from contacting the complainant or any of her family members.