Supreme Court Grants Anticipatory Bail to IYC President in Modesty Outrage Case

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court granted anticipatory bail to Indian Youth Congress (IYC) President Srinivas BV in a case registered against him for allegedly outraging the modesty of a former Congress worker.

A Bench of Justices BR Gavai and Sanjay Karol heard the plea filed by Srinivas challenging an order of the Gauhati High Court that refused to quash the FIR lodged against him.

The Court avoided going into details of the arguments during the anticipatory bail stage and instead focused on the minimum facts and dates. “Though arguments have been advanced at length, we do not intend to consider in detail at this stage. It is already settled that detailed examination of evidence at hearing of anticipatory bail has to be avoided. We will only be referring to the bare minimum facts and dates,” the Court said.

Taking into account the month’s delay in lodging the first information report (FIR), the Court determined that Srinivas was entitled to interim protection and ordered that he be released on anticipatory bail on furnishing a bond of ₹50,000 with one or two sureties of like amount. It also directed the IYC President to cooperate with the probe and issued notice to the State of Assam.

The complainant alleged that during the plenary session of the Congress Party held at the Mayfair Hotel in Raipur on March 25, she was heckled at the entrance of the hotel by Srinivas, who allegedly held her arms and also threatened her by using slang words. 

She further claimed that despite informing the high office bearers of the Congress Party about his behavior, no action was taken.

Srinivas argued that a plain reading of the complaint failed to show the ingredients to make out the offences alleged and that the Assam Police had no jurisdiction to investigate or register an FIR for an offence that had allegedly taken place in Chhattisgarh.