In a striking order, the Madhya Pradesh High Court has mandated a man accused of rape to surrender all his electronic devices and social media passwords to the Bhopal police as a condition for his anticipatory bail.
The accused, an engineer, had been booked for allegedly engaging in a sexual relationship with a woman under the pretense of marriage. The prosecution contended that he had shared private photographs of the complainant, also an engineer, with his friends.
While granting pre-arrest bail, the Court took note of the long-standing relationship between the two, which spanned from 2010 to 2018, and the fact that the complaint was filed only last year. The bail was approved on the condition that the accused furnish a personal bond of ₹50,000 along with a surety of the same amount.
However, the Court didn’t stop at financial conditions—it went a step further, ordering the accused to hand over all electronic gadgets, including his mobile phone and laptop, along with passwords to his social media accounts such as Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Any objectionable material found during the investigation was to be handed over to the complainant and the authorities.
The investigating agency has been directed to return the accused’s devices after retrieving the necessary data.
