High court imposes password rider for pre-arrest bail to rape accused in Madhya Pradesh

JABALPUR: Madhya Pradesh high court (HC) has ordered an engineer to hand over passwords of all his electronic gadgets and social media accounts to police while granting him anticipatory bail in a rape complaint. The single bench of Justice Dev Narayan Mishra also asked the accused to hand over intimate photos of the complainant to her and the investigating agency.

The petition, filed by a Bhopal resident, stated that he and the complainant had been in a ‘friendly relationship’ since 2006. Both were adults and employed as engineers in different organisations. They had consensual relations from 2010 to 2018, it stated. After 2018, there was no communication between them, and the woman filed a rape complaint at Mahila Thana in Bhopal in December 2024, six years later, the petitioner said, and sought an anticipatory bail.
Opposing the bail plea, the complainant and state argued that the accused had violated her privacy for 10 years “under the pretence of marriage”. They alleged that he repeatedly promised marriage and shared the woman’s objectionable photos with his friends. When he refused to marry her, the woman filed a complaint against him.
HC noted in its order that the two were in a long-term relationship from 2010 to 2018 when they were employed in different locations, but no privacy violation allegations were made during that time.
Granting him anticipatory bail, HC ordered the applicant to hand over all available documents and intimate photos to the investigating agency and the complainant. Additionally, he must provide passwords for all electronic gadgets, like mobile phones.