Mumbai: The Bombay High Court recently granted protection from being arrested to a police officer of the Maharashtra Police Force, who is accused of raping a woman colleague. The HC while granting him relief noted that the accused as also the alleged victim were in a ‘consensual’ relationship.
A bench of Justices Indrajit Mahanty and Anant Badar granted pre-arrest relief to Amit Shelar, who is attached to crime branch cell of the Navi Mumbai Police. He had petitioned the bench apprehending his arrest in accordance to the criminal case registered against him by a woman colleague in November 2018.
According to the complainant, who works in the same department, Shelar had spiked her cold drink in March 2018 and had then raped her.
In her complaint, the complainant woman claimed that she was being blackmailed by Shelar, who had video-recorded the intercourse. “He used this video recording and raped me on several occasions,” the complainant claimed through a court-appointed advocate.
On the contrary, Shelar claimed that he has been falsely implicated in the case and that whatever happened between the two was consensual. He had accordingly petitioned a lower court seeking pre-arrest bail but was however, denied any relief. Subsequently, he moved the bench led by Justice Mahanty seeking some relief.
Having considered the facts of the case, the bench noted that the complainant was a married woman.
“If the facts stated in the First Information Report (FIR) and the text messages exchanged between the complainant and the present applicant (Shelar) are considered, prima facie we are of the opinion that the case in hand is a case of consent,” the bench said.
“Thus, we are of a prima facie opinion that the act was consensual in nature,” the order penned down by Justice Badar reads.
The bench further said that the complainant was indulging into sexual relations with Shelar without informing her husband. It also noted that the FIR was filed only after the husband learnt of the relationship.
“This is a case of a 31-year-old married woman, indulging in sexual relations with her colleague on several occasions without disclosing the fact to her husband. The FIR has been lodged only after her husband found the text messages sent to each other by the complainant and Shelar,” the bench noted.
