The bail came as a setback to many of the victims who claimed that they were disappointed with the order. (Reuters/File) A metropolitan magistrate court in Bandra, that on February 1 granted bail to 22-year-old Yash Kumar — one of the three accused in the Clubhouse app case, has in its bail order criticised the Mumbai Cyber Police, saying that they have shown nothing to establish connection of the accused with the alleged acts of posting derogatory chats. The eight-page bail order also cited around 12 aspects for granting bail to Kumar in the case, in which he, along with two others, was arrested for allegedly engaging in obscene chats targeting women and auctioning their body parts.
The bail came as a setback to many of the victims who claimed that they were disappointed with the order. One of the victims told the Indian Express that she is “disheartened” by the court’s decision and termed the bail “unfair”. “I hope cyber police will appeal against his bail. If he is old enough to describe rape and call himself a potential rapist, then he must face the consequences,” she said. The cyber police sources however claimed that the evidence were submitted and they might approach a higher court against the order.
Kumar — identified by cyber police as Yash Parashar, along with Akash Suyal and Jaishnav Kakkad, was arrested from Haryana on January 21 and sent to police custody till January 28. While Yash was then sent in judicial custody, the other two tested positive for Covid-19 and are in a quarantine facility.
The order stated that nothing was shown by cyber police to establish connection of the accused with the alleged acts of posting derogatory chats and the police failed to produce anything on record to show that present applicant Yash Kumar and Yash Parashar are the same persons despite being given sufficient time of two days, which create doubts. Yash Kumar was in custody for more than 10 days but till date nothing could be found in the record of investigation from which it can be inferred that the accused is actively involved in the commission of alleged acts.
The order also made observations on the investigating agency. Three excerpts from the order states, “Manner of collection of evidence by way of investigation is also not in tune with the pace of time. This court repeatedly comes across such incidents wherein allegations are serious but there is tremendous apathy on the part of the investigating agency. Such conduct on part of the investigating agency cannot be defended and benefits the accused and warrants bail.”
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