'Complainant invited trouble': Allahabad High Court grants bail in rape case

Recently, another bail order from the Allahabad High Court sparked controversy

While granting bail to an accused in a rape case, the Allahabad High Court said the complainant had "invited trouble" upon herself.

The comment was made by Justice Sanjay Kumar Singh. The accused who was arrested in December 2024 for alleged rape of a woman he had met at a bar in Hauz Khas, Delhi.

"This court is of the view that even if the allegation of the victim is accepted as true, then it can also be concluded that she herself invited trouble and was also responsible for the same. A similar stand has been taken by the victim in her statement. In her medical examination, her hymen was found torn but doctor did not give any opinion about the sexual assault,” the court stated as quoted by Bar and Bench.

According to the FIR registered in September last year, the victim is a postgraduate student and lived as a paying guest in Delhi. On September 21, she and her friends visited a restaurant in Hauz Khas. They drank there till 3 am and became "very intoxicated". "Since she needed support, therefore, she herself agreed to go to the house of the applicant and take rest," Justice Sanjay Kumar Singh has said in the order.

She added that due to his insistence, she agreed to go with the accused to his house “to rest”. She further alleged that he kept touching her inappropriately on the way and instead of taking him to his place in Noida, he took her to a relative’s flat in Gurgaon, where he raped her.

The victim then approached the police, leading to registration of a First Information Report (FIR) at a Noida police station. The accused was arrested on December 11, 2024.

"The allegation of the victim that applicant instead of his house took her to his relative's flat and raped her twice is false and against the evidence on record. On the strength of said facts, it is argued that considering the facts of the case as disclosed by the victim, it is not a case of rape but may be a case of consensual relationship between the parties concerned," the order stated.

Recently, another bail order from the Allahabad High Court sparked controversy  after one of its judges ruled that grabbing breasts or pulling a pyjama string did not amount to rape or even an attempt to rape.