Bengaluru:The Karnataka High Court has granted conditional bail to a rape accused on Thursday after finding that the victim, a married woman, willingly posed nude over the phone and had a consensual physical relationship with the accused person.
The rape accused Basanagouda, a resident of Koppal, who was arrested on charges of rape and sending the screenshots of nude pictures of the victim to her husband, had approached the court seeking bail. The victim had lodged a police complaint against the accused. The accused was arrested on the next day based on allegations of rape, a threat to life, and other charges made by the woman.
The bench headed by Justice Shivashankar Amarannanavar accepted the petition and granted the bail. "It is a case of consensual sex. The victim had a physical relationship before and post her marriage. It has come to notice that the victim has made calls from her husband's cell phone early in the mornings between 4 and 5 am which showed her private parts."
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If this is to be considered, then it shows that the victim was willing to have a physical relationship and willfully showed her private parts on mobile after making calls to the accused person, the bench said.
There are no charges against the accused which can attract life imprisonment and he doesn't have a criminal background. Though a case has been registered against him under Section 67 of the IT Act for sending obscene pictures in electronic form. In this case, the accused could be jailed for three years and a fine of Rs 5 lakh could be imposed, the bench added.
"There is an objection that there is a threat to the life of the victim in case the bail is granted to the accused. Under the circumstances of the victim giving her consent for a physical relationship and showing her private parts on mobile, the matter of whether she will face life threat should be decided by the lower court which is looking into the issue," the bench said.
The rape accused and the victim are relatives from the same village. After promising marriage, the accused developed a physical relationship with her. However, she got married to another person. Even after marriage, both continued to have a physical relationship. The accused demanded to send photographs of her private parts during their conversation over the cellphone. The victim agreed to fulfill his demands that is when the accused had taken screenshots of those and sent them to the victim's husband.
When the accused did not receive calls for 15 days from the victim, he had sent her nude pictures to the cellphone of her husband on April 5, 2021. Following which her husband quarrelled with her and sent her back to her parents' home.
