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Supreme Court today, declined to interfere with the order of Delhi High Court granting Anticipatory Bail to Journalist Varun Hiremath, accused of Rape charges against a 22 year old woman from Pune.

A Division Bench of Justice Navin Sinha and Justice Ajay Rastogi, while confining to Bail Jurisprudence, orally remarked,

“Our question is for the purpose of bail only. If a man makes a request and the woman complies with it, do we need to say anything more at this stage?”

“We find no reason to interfere. The SLP is dismissed”, Court said.

Senior Counsel Nitya Ramakrishnan submitted that the Delhi High Court, for deciding the application of accused, undertook only a selective reading of S.164 statement and that the penetrative act constituting offence of rape was clearly against the petitioner’s consent; “It is not the case of a continued consent… Why should the accused not be sent for a custodial interrogation?”

It was added by the learned senior that the accused, set out in straight words, “Look I paid 11000 for the room, so you will have to comply with it.”

Varun Hiremath, an anchor with ET NOW, is accused of charges under Section 376, 342, 509 IPC, against a female friend he met in 2017.

It has been alleged by the victim that she was raped by Hiremath, at a five star hotel in Chanakyapuri on February 20.

Application for anticipatory bail was denied by the lower court, stating that Section 53A Indian Evidence Act makes previous sexual experiences with any person, irrelevant, to determine consent or quality of consent in the given circumstances.

A Single Judge Bench of Justice Mukta Gupta, granted interim protection to the accused by order dated April 9, 2021.

Also Read: Interim Protection to ET Now Anchor from Arrest, subject to his cooperation in Investigation: Delhi HC reiterates