Orissa High Court
Case Details
Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed Signed by: BHABAGRAHI JHANKAR Reason: Authentication Location: ORISSA HIGH COURT, CUTTACK Date: 15-May-2025 19:08:17 IN THE HIGH COURT OF ORISSA AT CUTTACK BLAPL No.3238 of 2025 Chakradhar Naik ..…... Petitioner (s) Mr. Pranab Kumar Samantray, Adv. -Versus- State of Odisha ………. Opposite Party Mr. Debasish Nayak, AGA CORAM: DR. JUSTICE S.K. PANIGRAHI ORDER 05.05.2025 Order No. 01. F.I.R No. 92 26.02.2025 Barkote Dated Police Station Case No. and Sections Courts’ Name C.T Case No.91 of 2025 pending in of Court the learned J.M.F.C., Barkote Sections 420/ 376(2)/(n)/ 313/ 506 of the I.P.C. 1. This matter is taken up through a hybrid arrangement. 2. The Petitioner, who is in custody in connection with Barkote P.S. Case No.92 of 2025, C.T Case No.91 of 2025 pending in the Court of learned J.M.F.C., Barkote for the alleged commission of offences under 420/ 376(2)/(n)/ 313/ 506 of the I.P.C., has filed this petition seeking for his release on bail. 1 Signature Not Verified
Legal Reasoning
Digitally Signed Signed by: BHABAGRAHI JHANKAR Reason: Authentication Location: ORISSA HIGH COURT, CUTTACK Date: 15-May-2025 19:08:17 3. The brief fact of the case is the victim was working in a private hospital at Cuttack. On 21.11.2021 she had been to her village- Jharabahal to attend her father’s funeral and on that occasion the Petitioner took the mobile number of victim. Subsequently, he contacted the victim and persuaded her to come Deogarh. He also took rupees seven lakh from the victim with an assurance to provide her job at Deogarh. It is also alleged that the Petitioner called the victim to Deogarh, took her to Mamata lodge, gave her some drugs with cold drinks, committed rape on her and took her nude photographs. The Petitioner also kept physical relation with the victim multiple times by blackmailing her to make her nude photos viral. When the victim became pregnant, the Petitioner gave medicine to the victim to abort her pregnancy and also denied to marry her. Hence, this case.
Legal Reasoning
4. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the Petitioner is no way involved in commission of offences alleged. He further submits that the Petitioner is the sole earning member of his family and due to his detention inside the custody, his family members are suffering a lot. There is also no chance of tampering with the prosecution evidence as investigation has progressed substantially. Moreover, the Petitioner is in custody since 28.02.2025. Hence, he submits that the Petitioner may be enlarged on bail. 2 Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed Signed by: BHABAGRAHI JHANKAR Reason: Authentication Location: ORISSA HIGH COURT, CUTTACK Date: 15-May-2025 19:08:17 5. Learned counsel for the State vehemently opposes the bail application, contending that the petitioner is accused of serious and heinous offenses. It is submitted that the petitioner established a physical relationship with the victim under false assurances of marriage, illegally recorded explicit videos of her without consent, and circulated the same on social media, thereby causing her grave humiliation and distress. Given the egregious nature of the allegations and the potential for evidence tampering, the State strongly opposes any grant of bail to the petitioner. 6. This Court finds it necessary to observe that in cases involving allegations of sexual offences arising from relationships developed on the basis of a purported promise of marriage, the issue of consent must be approached with careful consideration. While the law recognises that consent obtained through deception or coercion may not be valid, it is equally important to acknowledge the principle of sexual autonomy, which presumes that an individual is capable of making voluntary choices unless demonstrably impaired. Allegations that consent was vitiated solely on the ground of a failed promise may not, in every case, constitute an offence, particularly where the nature of the relationship suggests mutual engagement over a sustained period. Premature conclusions regarding lack of consent, in the absence of clear indicators of coercion or bad faith, may cause unfair 3 Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed Signed by: BHABAGRAHI JHANKAR Reason: Authentication Location: ORISSA HIGH COURT, CUTTACK Date: 15-May-2025 19:08:17 prejudice. Each case must therefore turn on its own facts, and courts must tread cautiously in drawing inferences at the pre-trial stage. 7. This Court had an occasion to deal with a case of similar facts to this case i.e. in CRLMC No.4485 of 2024 (Manoj Kumar Munda – vrs. State of Odisha & Anr.) wherein the Petitioner/ alleged accused had challenged the proceeding initiated against him for commission of the alleged offences under Sections 376(2)(a), 376(2)(i), 376(2)(n), 294, 506, and 34 of the I.P.C. This Court vide judgment dated 14.02.2025 taking into account the various judicial pronouncements of the Supreme Court had made an elaborate discussions on the concept of consent and the issue of sexual autonomy and allowed the CRLMC No.4485 of 2024 quashing the proceedings against the Petitioner. The ordering portion of the said judgment is extracted hereinbelow: “36. The legal system, by criminalizing sex under a “false promise of marriage,” upholds this performative construct, one that assumes that women engage in sexual relationships only as a prelude to matrimony, rather than as autonomous agents of their own desires. 37. In its pursuit of justice, the law must not become an instrument of moral policing. It must acknowledge that sexual agency is not a promise, nor is it a contract that mandates a predetermined outcome. To assume otherwise is to deny women the full measure of their 4 Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed Signed by: BHABAGRAHI JHANKAR Reason: Authentication Location: ORISSA HIGH COURT, CUTTACK Date: 15-May-2025 19:08:17 than as autonomy, desire, and choice, reducing them to mere bearers of honour, rather individuals possessing an intrinsic right to their own bodies and decisions. … 39. It is in this light that the automatic criminalization of failed relationships under the guise of “false promise of marriage” must be scrutinized. The assumption that every physical relationship between a man and a woman carries the implicit condition of matrimony is not a principle of law but a vestige of control.” 8. Considering the facts and circumstances, and keeping in view the submissions of the learned counsel for the Petitioner, and the view taken in Manoj Kumar Munda (supra), this Court is of the view that the Petitioner should be granted bail by the court in seisin over the matter in the aforesaid case, on some stringent terms and conditions with further conditions that:- i. The Petitioner shall appear before the local Police Station on every Monday between 10 A.M. to 1.00 P.M.; ii. The Petitioner shall not indulge himself in any criminal offence while on bail; iii. The Petitioner shall not tamper with the evidence or intimidate the prosecution witnesses in any manner; and iv. The Petitioner, after the onset of monsoon (during June, 2025 to August, 2025), shall plant 100 saplings of local varieties, such as mango, neem, tamarind, etc., around his village on Government land, community land, or private land in the possession of the Petitioner or his family members. In the event that suitable land is unavailable, 5 Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed Signed by: BHABAGRAHI JHANKAR Reason: Authentication Location: ORISSA HIGH COURT, CUTTACK Date: 15-May-2025 19:08:17 the Revenue Authority shall assist in identifying the land for plantation. Violation of any of the above conditions shall lead to cancellation of the bail. 9. The District Nursery/D.F.O. shall extend the helping hand by supplying the saplings to the Petitioner and the Revenue Authority shall assist the Petitioner in identifying the location for plantation of the saplings. If the land is not available, the Petitioner to approach the Revenue Authority for identifying the land for plantation and the Revenue Authority shall do the needful. 10. The I.I.C. of the concerned Police Station in coordination with the local Forest Officer shall monitor; whether the Petitioner has planted the saplings or not. 11. It is further made clear that the Petitioner shall file an affidavit after plantation of the saplings before the local Police Station assuring that he shall maintain those plants for two years.
Decision
12. The BLAPL is, accordingly, disposed of. Judge (Dr. S.K. Panigrahi) B. Jhankar 6