On 11th January 2022, A sessions court in Mumbai has refused pre-arrest bail to a city-based lawyer accused of outraging the modesty of a woman member of the NCP.
The Dindoshi sessions court on Monday dismissed the anticipatory bail plea filed by Inderpal Singh (62), who represents Maharashtra's former home minister Anil Deshmukh in a money laundering case.
Additional sessions judge N L Kale in his order noted that custodial interrogation and physical presence of the accused persons before the police was required for a probe to be carried out.
The Suburban Charkop police have registered a case against Singh and three others under sections 354 (outraging modesty of a woman), 509 (words to insult modesty) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and relevant sections of the Information Technology Act.
According to the complainant, after she became the president of the Mahila Jilha of NCP Mumbai, Singh, who at the time was president of the NCP, Uttar Mumbai, used to harass her by asking her to "send beautiful women to his office". Since the complainant opposed this, Singh allegedly held a grudge against her.
The woman also claimed that Singh had caused disturbances in her social work and created hurdles in her career.
In October 2021, Singh had allegedly sent objectionable messages about the complainant on a WhatsApp group and made false statements about her at an NCP meeting.
Singh and the three other accused, in their pre-arrest bail pleas, claimed that the woman had lodged a false report against them and had made false and frivolous allegations.
The court, however, rejected their pleas and noted that in the present case most of the investigation relates to electronic media and devices since the accused used their phones to send the alleged messages on a WhatsApp group.
"These devices are yet to be seized. For the seizure of cell phones used by the accused in the commission of the alleged crime, their custody with the investigating officer is quite necessary," the court said in its order.
