The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a plea challenging the Delhi High Court order granting anticipatory bail to a Mumbai-based journalist in a rape case lodged against him by a 22-year-old woman.
“We find no reason to interfere. The special leave petition is dismissed,” said a vacation Bench of Justices Navin Sinha and Ajay Rastogi while rejecting the plea filed by the complainant.
The High Court had on May 13 granted anticipatory bail to journalist Varun Hiremath in the case.
The complainant has alleged that she was raped by the accused at a five-star hotel in Chanakyapuri on February 20.
Hiremath had approached the high court after his anticipatory bail plea was dismissed by a trial court here on March 12.
Senior advocate Nitya Ramakrishnan, appearing for the petitioner, argued in the apex court that the accused had earlier absconded for 50 days and he also evaded the non-bailable warrant.
“The question is of normal human conduct and behaviour. If a man and woman are in a room, the man makes a request and the woman complies with it, do we need to say anything more?,” the bench observed during the hearing, and added, “Whatever we are saying is limited to the purpose of cancellation of anticipatory bail only and we are not going into the larger question of consent at this stage”.