Supreme Court relief to Vijay Babu, plea against anticipatory bail rejected

The top court restrained Babu from making social media posts in connection with the case

The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to interfere with the anticipatory bail granted to Malayalam film producer-actor Vijay Babu in a case of alleged sexual assault of an actor.

The top court, however, restrained Babu from making social media posts in connection with the case. It also made it clear that he cannot leave Kerala without the permission of the court.

A bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and J K Maheshwari also said Babu would not tamper with the evidence or try to influence any witness and also would not harass the victim.

The court also modified the High Court's order of June 22 which restricted the probe upto July 3, by terming it as "unwarranted".

The Kerala government and the victim questioned the validity of the High Court's order allowing pre-arrest bail to Babu.

Senior Advocate Jaideep Gupta, representing the Kerala government, contended that Babu is an influential person in the movie industry and the witness and the evidence pertaining to the case is also connected with the film industry.

Gupta claimed Babu had deleted WhatsApp messages of 15 critical days. He contended that the High Court's order had restricted investigation up to July 3, and curbed the time on interrogation.

"We don't think that grant of bail is unwarranted but restricting time for investigation is unwarranted," the bench said.

The top court said the restrictions on proceeding with the investigation could not be sustained.

"We make it clear that Babu may be interrogated beyond July 3, 2022, if necessary,” it said.

Opposing the anticipatory bail to Babu, senior advocate R Basant, representing the victim, said he disclosed her identity on Facebook Live to pressurise her. The counsel said the accused fled to Georgia, where there is no extradition treaty.

In her complaint, the victim alleged that she was raped by the accused first on March 16 this year and later on several occasions.

Once, she was even subjected to physical torture when she resisted his attempt, she claimed. The police registered the FIR against Vijay Babu on April 22 under provisions of rape (IPC Section 376), criminal intimidation (IPC Section 506) and causing hurt (IPC Section 323). It was alleged that soon after the registration of FIR, the accused fled to Dubai.