The Delhi High Court has rejected bail to a man for allegedly forcing his wife to “partner swap”, observing the allegations in the FIR “are not the stereotyped matrimonial dispute allegations”.
In the June 9 order, the court noted that apart from the serious allegations above, there are also allegations of rape and gang rape in statement made by the woman.
It took note of the woman’s allegation that her brother-in-law also used to sexually harass her by inappropriately touching her and had outraged her modesty, but when she complained to her husband, he told her to ignore all that humiliation.
The court referred to the FIR, which recorded that the husband “used to hurt her hands with blade and make her do kitchen work with wounded hands” and had also”started compelling her to agree for wife swapping and for that purpose, he took her to a hotel where his friends molested her, so she ran away”.
The man was also accused of creating the woman’s fake Instagram ID and sharing her “pictures on social media” aside from “soliciting people to make sexual relations with her for money”.
“Further, it appears that earlier, when granted anticipatory bail, the accused admittedly got in touch with the prosecutrix (woman) and exchanged text chats, copies whereof are on record. It would be significant to note that those text chats were made by the accused under a fictitious name through a new SIM card, but in the investigation, the said SIM was found to be registered in his name,” the court said.
The man’s counsel contended that the allegations against him are “basically those arising out of matrimonial disputes, so the accused/applicant deserves to be released on bail”.
The court, however, said, “…I do not find it fit case to release the accused/applicant on bail. Therefore, the application is dismissed”.
Published – June 18, 2025 07:28 am IST