The Punjab and Haryana High Court recently observed that grant of anticipatory bail would not be appropriate in cases of sextortion as such crimes severely impact the social fabric.Justice Sumeet Goel made the observation while denying anticipatory bail to two women and a man accused of engaging in immoral trafficking and extortion.The acts of crime alleged against the accused have a tendency to severely impact the fabric of society at large, the Court said“It goes without saying that in a case where the allegations are of sextortion, as are in the present case, it is not appropriate to grant anticipatory bail, as it would necessarily cause impediment in effective investigation,” it added.The accused were booked last year by Jalandhar Police in Punjab.The police told the Court that the main accused was running a brothel from a rented accommodation and the women would make video calls to “innocent people and extort money” from them by blackmailing them. The accused managed to get influential people implicated in false rape cases and then extorted lakhs of rupees from them, the police submitted.The Court called the allegations serious and said the role attributed to them leads to an unequivocal conclusion that they do not deserve the concession of anticipatory bail.“It may not be possible for the investigating agency to unravel the entire modus operandi if the petitioners are armed with a protective order,” it said while rejecting the petitions.Advocates Narinder S Lucky, Gurpal Kaur Dulat and Vipan Kumar Sharma represented the accused.Assistant Advocate General Adhiraj Singh Thind represented the State of Punjab.Advocate Liaqat Ali represented the complainant.
TAGS: Punjab and Haryana High Court anticipatory bail sextortion social fabric immoral trafficking extortion Justice Sumeet Goel
