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Sadhna Chaudhary vs. The State of Rajasthan & Anr.

Criminal Appeal · 2022 INSC 712Decided 12 Jul 2022
Criminal Appeal No. 936 of 2022
Ajay Rastogi · Vikram Nath · Hemant Gupta · Ajay Rastogi along with Justice Vikram Nath

Background

The appellant alleged that a police Station House Officer (respondent no.2), while holding onto her sister's identity documents from an earlier complaint, lured her to his official residence, drugged her, sexually exploited her, and then blackmailed her with obscene photos/videos over nearly two years. She said the exploitation escalated into a physical assault by the officer and his family in May 2020, after which she was rescued by a police patrol and filed an FIR under Sections 323, 341, 354, 379 and 376 IPC. The Rajasthan High Court granted the accused officer anticipatory bail; the victim appealed to the Supreme Court against that grant.

Decision Breakdown

The State itself, in a detailed counter-affidavit, supported the appellant, stating that its investigation had unearthed substantial evidence against the accused officer, that a rival FIR he had gotten registered against the appellant through his wife was found completely false and closed, and that the accused had not fully cooperated with the investigation: items like the obscene photos/videos, his mobile phone and other evidence were yet to be recovered from him. Applying the settled principles for anticipatory bail from Sibbia, Siddharam Satlingappa Mhetre and Sushila Aggarwal, the Court held that a serving police officer is expected to observe the law even more strictly than an ordinary citizen, and that the High Court had erred by mechanically accepting the accused's version without weighing the seriousness of the allegations or the pending recoveries. The Supreme Court set aside the High Court's order, cancelled the anticipatory bail, and gave the accused two weeks to surrender, failing which he could be arrested; it also clarified any future regular bail application should be decided independently on its own merits.

Lesson Learnt

Anticipatory bail is not a matter of routine, especially where the accused holds a position of public trust or authority (like a police officer) and where recoveries relevant to the offence remain outstanding. Courts must weigh the gravity of the allegation and the accused's actual cooperation with investigation, not merely accept the accused's version at face value.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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