Clubhouse case: Offence not against individual, but against all women, says court in accused's bail rejection order

A sessions court that this week rejected the bail application of Akash Suyal, an accused in the Clubhouse app case relating to lewd conversations on women on a social audio app, has said in its detailed order that the offence is not committed against any one individual, but it against all women.

The 19-year-old was among three arrested from Haryana last month in the case. They were arrested on the complaint of a 33-year-old woman. She had stated in her complaint that she had found a chatroom on the audio app that she had downloaded on her phone, where there were sexually explicit conversations and talks of auctioning the body parts of her and other women, mostly from the Muslim community.

Additional Sessions Judge Sanjashree Gharat in her order said the accused is found passing comments on females and a particular community. The court said that his involvement was noticed during the course of investigation. “The offence is not committed against any individual. It is an offence against all women,” it stated. It apprehended that if he is released on bail while the probe is in progress, it might create a hurdle in the investigation.

Suyal had claimed bail on the grounds of being a young student and that due to continued custody, his education and career will spoil. The cyber police had opposed his release on bail and said that the offence is sensitive wherein defamatory statements are made against women.