Clubhouse case: Doubt if applicant same person who committed offence, says Court

A Bandra magistrate court that granted bail to a 22-year-old accused in the Clubhouse case has said in its detailed order that there is a doubt if the applicant Yash Kumar is the same Yash Parashar who is named in the police complaint.

The case relates to lewd remarks made in an audio app’s chatrooms against women of a particular community. The youth through advocates Akshay Bafna and Gayatri Gokhale had disputed the identity aspect in his bail application. The court stated in its order that the record of the investigation was called and the police have not shown anything to establish the connection of the applicant with the alleged acts of posting derogatory posts. It noted that it had put a specific query to the investigating officer and the prosecutor regarding the connection of the applicant with Yash Parashar, named in the FIR.

“They failed to produce anything on record which will show that the present applicant Yash Kumar and Yash Parashar are the same persons despite giving sufficient time of two days,” it said. The court added that these aspects create doubt whether he is involved in the alleged acts or not.

Metropolitan magistrate Komalsing Rajput further stated in his order that it is necessary to mention that the applicant was in police custody for 10 days, but till date (of order) nothing was found from the record of investigation to infer that the applicant is actively involved in the commission of the alleged acts.

The court said it is coming across such incidents where allegations are serious, but there is “tremendous apathy” on the part of the investigating agency. “Such conduct on the part of the investigating agency cannot be defended,” it said.

The order had directed the youngster to undergo counselling for general social behaviour and for following netiquettes. As a rationale behind this, the order said that while enlarging him on bail, there should be some rider so that he can understand the nature of the act he might have committed and not repeat it in future. “He must understand that he is duty-bound to respect the dignity and privacy of others and everybody must behave responsibly in every aspect of social life.” it said.

The same court had also dealt with the Bulli Bai app case accused. It said it is necessary to mention that irresponsible use of social media is rampant. “The people and particularly the younger generation in their teenage years, are ignoring etiquettes and mannerisms…immediate attention towards this aspect is necessary or there will be havoc and the situation may go out of control..” it stated.