Read Time: 05 minutes

Synopsis

The Allahabad High Court recently denied bail to a Muslim man accused of hiding his religious identity to trap a Hindu girl into establishing a physical relationship with him and then forcing her to convert from Hinduism to Islam. 

The bench of Justice Saurabh Shyam Shamshery rejected the argument advanced by the accused that it was a case of honeytrap and it was the victim herself who had lured the accused into a relationship to later frame him in a rape case. 

The First Information Report (FIR) in the matter had been filed on August 28, 2022, by the victim herself who alleged that the accused, namely Chand Babu, introduced himself as Vishal to her, and when they started talking, he proposed to her. Subsequently, the victim started visiting him. Later on, the accused threatened her of making her unsolicited photographs viral and repeatedly raped her.

The victim further alleged that on August 24, 2022 when the accused took the victim to a hotel, she came to know that his real name was Chand Babu and that he was a Muslim.

Then the victim confronted the accused as to why he had introduced himself as a Hindu boy, upon which, the accused started forcing her to convert to Islam. Thereafter, she was again raped at the said hotel by the accused, and it was by luck, that she escaped from the hotel and lodged the FIR under Sections 376(2)(n), 420, 506 of the IPC and 3/5 of the UP Prevention of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act.

Seeking bail before the high court, the counsel for the accused argued that it is a typical case of honeytrap wherein the accused had been trapped by the victim, and later on she started blackmailing him. 

The counsel contended that it was impossible that when the victim was meeting the accused regularly, still she remained unaware of his religion. 

However, the high court noted that except bald assertions there was no material even prima facie on record that the accused had been honey-trapped by the victim.

Court further noted that in the statement of the manager of the said hotel, he had stated that at the hotel, a copy of Aadhar card of the accused only had been submitted and the signature of the victim was in the name 'Seema' which showed that she did not know that her name in the visitor's register depicted her as a Muslim.

Therefore, while opining that it did not appear to be a case of honeytrap, court dismissed the present bail plea. 

Case Title: Chand Babu @ Vishal v. State of UP