The HC also said that the applicant is a “young student aged around 20 years with clear antecedents having no previous history of being involved in any other offences or having any other FIR registered against him”. The Delhi High Court has granted anticipatory bail to a 20-year-old student accused of raping his college professor, while observing that the woman was a “fully grown matured adult lady” of 35 years who not only chose to enter into a relationship with the student but also continued with it for over a year. A single-judge bench of Justice Saurabh Banerjee, in its October 31 order, said that it prima facie seemed that the woman was in a relationship with the applicant “out of choice and desire rather out of compulsion or force”.

The HC also said that the applicant is a “young student aged around 20 years with clear antecedents having no previous history of being involved in any other offences or having any other FIR registered against him”. The court thereafter granted him anticipatory bail adding that in the event of his arrest, the applicant would be released on a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh and one surety of the like amount, subject to certain conditions. The court also noted that at the time of the duo coming in contact with each other and entering into a relationship, the student was a “young boy aged less than around 20 years” and that it wasn’t disputed that the woman was already married to her former husband but was undergoing divorce. The court further said that it “can’t lose sight” of the fact that the woman has a PhD in marketing, is highly educationally qualified and on this strength, gainfully employed as a professor at a reputed university whereas the applicant was merely a “student” there. “Thus, the prosecutrix was, admittedly, having a ‘guru-shishya’ relation with the applicant,” the HC said. “…It would also not be wrong for this Court to infer that she was/is well aware of the repercussions of entering into a relation with such an underage individual ‘Student’,” the court added. Justice Banerjee observed that from coming into contact in February 2022 with the applicant till the filing of the complaint, just prior to registration of the FIR, the woman had never made any complaint of any kind against the applicant. The court further said that the applicant was only a “proclaimed person” under the code of criminal procedure who was evading arrest and had not been declared a “proclaimed offender”. It further noted that the woman did not have “threat perception” from the applicant as she had herself visited the college of the applicant’s sister and the residence of his relatives along with the Investigation Officer (IO) after registration of the FIR. The court said that as per the woman, the applicant had threatened her after registration of the FIR but she had not lodged any complaint on this point. The court further noted that the applicant, after being granted interim bail by the trial court, not only joined and participated in the investigation on 14 occasions but had also handed over his mobile phone to the IO. In the FIR, the woman alleged that she met the applicant in February 2022, and in May the same year, while on an official trip to Manali, they got married in a temple and he promised to legally marry her in future. As per the July 19 FIR, registered under various provisions of the IPC including Section 376 (rape), the woman alleged that on June 4, 2022, she met the applicant’s family at his home and that they had no objections to their marriage. After learning about her pregnancy in April this year, the applicant and his family pressured her to have an abortion, and a pill was administered to her by the applicant, she stated. As per the FIR, the woman got to know in June that she was pregnant again, and on July 1 the applicant took Rs 2,50,000 from her and left. On July 2, he booked an appointment for her with a gynaecologist for July 4, which was the last time they interacted, the FIR stated.