![Karan Oberoi, 40, has acted in some television serials, and appeared in commercials.](https://img.etimg.com/thumb/msid-69375954,width-650,height-488,imgsize-882824,resizemode-75/karan-oberoi-40-has-acted-in-some-television-serials-and-appeared-in-commercials-.jpg)
MUMBAI: A sessions court on Friday (May 17) rejected a bail plea filed by actor Karan Oberoi, 47, in a rape and extortion case filed against him by a 34-year-old tantric and healer.
"A prudent person can understand a one sided love and one may be prepared to give up everything to. However (in view of) of several valuable things given by another person would cause one to think that the applicant as a prudent person can not be expected to have taken such items unless the relationship between them was a committed relationship and were together as partners."
"In the factum, he cannot be enlarged on bail," said the court. Dindoshi sessions judge S U Baghele passed the order after a lengthy pitched three-way hearing of the bail plea which concluded after almost a week. The defence counsel Dinesh Tiwari was vociferous throughout that the rape case against him "inspires no confidence" "is concocted" and a "misuse of rape laws" in what was a "consensual" relationship before it ended. The public prosecutor said the FIR pointed to no legal consent since she alleged that in January 2017 when she was first raped she not only alleged that she had felt sleepy after drinking the coconut water he offered but he also asked her not to be afraid because he would marry her after she protested.
Her lawyers Sheetal Pandya and Ali Kaashif Khan said her consent was taken on false promise of marriage and hence it amount to rape, also citing a recent Supreme Court case. Oberoi's lawyer said no reliance can be placed on judgment she cited as he pointed out that facts were different in that case and in this case there was no talks of marriage between the families and she hasn't even anywhere mentioned that she ever met his parents or family. The actor's lawyer said "This kind of misuse of rape laws has risen. Hence, a movement (against it) has begun. So many cases have been highlighted by the high courts too. Like the IPC's Section 498A (cruelty to wife), rape laws are being misused to frame men. If something is given as a gift, it cannot be a matter of criminal probe. Time has come for a reform in law as otherwise there will be no end to agony for men".
The actor earlier a singer with a boy band was arrested on May 5 by Oshiwara police and sent to judicial custody to Taloja jail on May 9 by a magistrate. The FIR by the woman who he met on a dating app in August 2016, alleged repeated raped against him, starting in January 2017. Oberoi's lawyer questioned the delay and said it was "unthinkable" that someone with "her personality", who had allegedly filed a complaint against another actor before, could not have filed an FIR against Oberoi earlier, if rape was true. Tiwari read a number of text messages from a "compilation submitted by her lawyers"-messages that the had exchanged with Oberoi-to demonstrate his contention that she was a "happy participant" in the chats and "not forced into anything".
Oberoi's laptop and phones were seized by the police, said Pandya, disputing the "authenticity of the WhatsApp messages". But the defence lawyer pointed out that these were taken from a complaint he had made earlier with Oshiwara police in October 2018 when he had filed a non cognizable complaint against her. She also questioned Tiwari's argument that the mobile app was for dating, not a marriage portal, and hence not meant for committed relationships.
Tiwari questioned the police for not seizing the informant's cellphones yet for investigation. "The police cannot act like mute spectators... They are not supposed to be the mouthpiece of the (complainant)," he argued. "There is no case to justify continued custody." In a zinger, he concluded with, "Unfortunately in this case, the investigation agency is behaving like a recovering agency between boyfriend and girlfriend." Tiwari said the woman allegedly "threatened to use black magic on the actor and his family". "How much can a man withstand? This is mental harm... she wanted to make him fall in love with her by buying gifts. Often men do this. In this case, it was the opposite."
The prosecutor, KY Salunke, opposed bail saying "a crime is under investigation" and stressed that "the FIR from the beginning shows (Oberoi's) mala fide intention". "It was not free consent by (the woman). (She was in a subconscious stage) after he said he would marry her. (This) fits in the definition of rape. There was a clear demand of money by him to delete a video of her, hence there's also extortion in the case."
The 34-year-old woman's lawyer, Pandya, questioned the black magic contention, saying, "If she were a black-magician, he would not be giving her gifts." She said the woman was "like a puppet to him" and was in "fear" of his "threats" and consented after a false "promise of marriage". To the "delayed FIR" argument, she said, "It is not possible that a woman will make a complaint against who she considers her future husband." Also, she said, "It is not expected of her to go immediately and complain against him because she was under fear that if he released a video of her, it would cause her stigma."
"A prudent person can understand a one sided love and one may be prepared to give up everything to. However (in view of) of several valuable things given by another person would cause one to think that the applicant as a prudent person can not be expected to have taken such items unless the relationship between them was a committed relationship and were together as partners."
"In the factum, he cannot be enlarged on bail," said the court. Dindoshi sessions judge S U Baghele passed the order after a lengthy pitched three-way hearing of the bail plea which concluded after almost a week. The defence counsel Dinesh Tiwari was vociferous throughout that the rape case against him "inspires no confidence" "is concocted" and a "misuse of rape laws" in what was a "consensual" relationship before it ended. The public prosecutor said the FIR pointed to no legal consent since she alleged that in January 2017 when she was first raped she not only alleged that she had felt sleepy after drinking the coconut water he offered but he also asked her not to be afraid because he would marry her after she protested.
Her lawyers Sheetal Pandya and Ali Kaashif Khan said her consent was taken on false promise of marriage and hence it amount to rape, also citing a recent Supreme Court case. Oberoi's lawyer said no reliance can be placed on judgment she cited as he pointed out that facts were different in that case and in this case there was no talks of marriage between the families and she hasn't even anywhere mentioned that she ever met his parents or family. The actor's lawyer said "This kind of misuse of rape laws has risen. Hence, a movement (against it) has begun. So many cases have been highlighted by the high courts too. Like the IPC's Section 498A (cruelty to wife), rape laws are being misused to frame men. If something is given as a gift, it cannot be a matter of criminal probe. Time has come for a reform in law as otherwise there will be no end to agony for men".
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Oberoi's laptop and phones were seized by the police, said Pandya, disputing the "authenticity of the WhatsApp messages". But the defence lawyer pointed out that these were taken from a complaint he had made earlier with Oshiwara police in October 2018 when he had filed a non cognizable complaint against her. She also questioned Tiwari's argument that the mobile app was for dating, not a marriage portal, and hence not meant for committed relationships.
Tiwari questioned the police for not seizing the informant's cellphones yet for investigation. "The police cannot act like mute spectators... They are not supposed to be the mouthpiece of the (complainant)," he argued. "There is no case to justify continued custody." In a zinger, he concluded with, "Unfortunately in this case, the investigation agency is behaving like a recovering agency between boyfriend and girlfriend." Tiwari said the woman allegedly "threatened to use black magic on the actor and his family". "How much can a man withstand? This is mental harm... she wanted to make him fall in love with her by buying gifts. Often men do this. In this case, it was the opposite."
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The 34-year-old woman's lawyer, Pandya, questioned the black magic contention, saying, "If she were a black-magician, he would not be giving her gifts." She said the woman was "like a puppet to him" and was in "fear" of his "threats" and consented after a false "promise of marriage". To the "delayed FIR" argument, she said, "It is not possible that a woman will make a complaint against who she considers her future husband." Also, she said, "It is not expected of her to go immediately and complain against him because she was under fear that if he released a video of her, it would cause her stigma."
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