Porn video case: SC grants protection from arrest to actress Sherlyn Chopra

On January 18, the Supreme Court had granted protection from arrest to Poonam Pandey in the porn films racket case

The Supreme Court on Friday granted protection from arrest to Bollywood actress and model Sherlyn Chopra in the porn video case.

A bench of Justices Vineet Saran and Aniruddha Bose issued notice to the Maharashtra government on Chopra’s plea and granted stay on her arrest, similar to previous orders passed granting protection to Shilpa Shetty’s husband industrialist Raj Kundra and actress Poonam Pandey.

Advocate Sunil Fernandes represented Chopra in the top court.

The petitioner challenged the validity of the Bombay High Court's order of November 25, 2021, rejecting her plea for anticipatory bail. She was accused of having acted in obscene videos uploaded online in the FIR lodged on November 6, 2020.

Her plea submitted that she was not involved in the publication or transmission of the content available on a mobile app, neither was she aware about the possible misuse. It was only when the FIR was filed, she came to know about the misuse of her identity.

She also said she has never been arrested or has undergone imprisonment in any case. She submitted she has rendered full co-operation during the investigation and is willing to provide un-fettered co-operation to the probe agency.

On January 18, the Supreme Court had granted protection from arrest to Pandey in the porn films racket case, where Kundra, is one of the main accused.

The top court issued notice to the Maharashtra government on an appeal filed by Pandey challenging a Bombay High Court order, which junked her anticipatory bail plea. "Issue notice.. In the meanwhile, no coercive action shall be taken against the petitioner," said the top court in its order.

In November last year, the Bombay High Court declined to grant relief to Pandey. She moved the Supreme Court challenging the high court order. Pandey has been made an accused in the FIR along with actor Sherlyn Chopra.

On December 15, the Supreme Court granted Kundra four weeks protection from arrest in one of the cases related to the porn film racket.

In November 2021, the Bombay High Court had declined to entertain the anticipatory bail application filed by Kundra in connection with an FIR registered against him by the Mumbai Police in the porn film racket case. Kundra approached the top court after the high court refused relief.

Kundra, first sought anticipatory bail from the session court, which refused to grant him any relief. Thereafter, he moved the Bombay High Court claiming that he was allegedly framed.

The cyber cell of the Mumbai Police filed a case against Kundra under sections of the Indian Penal Code, Indecent Representation of Women (Prevention) Act, and Information Technology Act for allegedly distributing sexually explicit videos.

Kundra claimed he was not connected to content creation, publication or transmission of alleged illegal videos. He was arrested by Mumbai Police, in July this year, in another case where he was accused of distributing porn films through an app. In September, Kundra was granted bail.

(with IANS inputs)

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