Man with link to Lawrence Bishnoi booked for rape; gets bail from SC on showing chats of cop, former partner: Report

In his bail petition, the man provided as evidence—WhatsApp chats and call records—between the woman and the SP-level Punjab Police officer.

A man who had been booked for rape, and accused of leveraging his links with gangster Lawrence Bishnoi to threaten the complainant, was recently granted bail by the Supreme Court.

This came after the accused claimed in his bail petition that the complainant who he was in a live-in relationship with, later developed a relation with the police officer and used his influence to implicate him in what he alleged was a false case of rape and threats, as per a report in The Indian Express.

In his bail petition, he also provided as evidence—WhatsApp chats and call records—between the woman and the SP-level Punjab Police officer.

“There is not an iota of evidence to suggest that the petitioner threatened the complainant in the name of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi. She concocted the false story to implicate the petitioner under the influence of the… officer serving in the Police Department. The motive behind the false implication is evident from the WhatsApp chats and video recordings, as the officer was in a relationship with the complainant and could not tolerate the petitioner’s relationship with her,” R K Grewal, the petitioner's advocate, told IE.

In a similar hearing recently, the Delhi High Court had observed that the offence of rape was one of the most heinous crimes against women but some people used the legal provisions against it as a weapon to unnecessarily harass their male counterparts

The petitioner had moved the court, seeking to quash the FIR lodged against him for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman with whom he was earlier in a relationship. The high court noted that the FIR was nothing but an afterthought.

It said the recordings, WhatsApp chats and statements recorded before the magistrate clearly established that the ingredients of the offence of rape were not met as the man and the woman had consensually agreed to enter into a physical relationship, which was also not based on false promises of marriage.

(With PTI inputs)