You Are Married With Kids, Why Did You Get Into Relationship: SC Asks While Dismissing Anticipatory Bail Application Of Doctor Accused Of Rape On False Promise Of Marriage
The Supreme Court, today, refused to extend interim protection to Dr. Abdul Qadir, who is accused of raping a woman on false promise of marriage and dismissed his application for anticipatory bail. The complaint of the victim is also that the Doctor, who is already married with a daughter, had threatened her and posted her pictures on social media and had also sent them to her fiancé.
It is to be noted, that the Court on June 8, 2023 had granted him interim protection from arrest. Qadri was pursuing a medical course (Surgery) at a university where the victim was a nursing teacher.
In the arguments today, when the Counsel for the petitioner sought indulgence stating that the matter could jeopardize the career of the accused, Justice Vikram Nath said, “You must think of it before you indulge into all these…you are married with 5 kids, why did you get yourself into a consensual relationship (pursuant to which the advocate clarified that he only has a daughter)...If you enter into this, then you are putting yourself into it. Why worry about the career? Are you not worried about the career of the girl?”.
“Her life is at stake, your career may be, but for her, her life…”, added Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah.
Accordingly, the bench while considering the request, observed, “...the petition is dismissed as withdrawn. With the liberty to the petitioner to surrender within two weeks, and apply for bail, whereupon the bail application may be considered on its own merits expeditiously”.
The bench at the outset, refused to consider the petition noting that the case was not fit to seek anticipatory bail.
The Counsel in the initial line of argument, stated, “She is a teacher, I am an accomplished Surgeon milord, with a very bright future! I did this mistake, but it is not an individual mistake, it was a consensual relationship for good 4 years, knowing that I am married”.
However, the Court refused to accept the contention, as it was more worried and concerned about the subsequent conduct of the petitioner and not the nature of the relationship per se. “You come together, part ways, but don’t follow her…you are married, let her also get married…”, said Justice Amanullah
The Advocate for the petitioner alleging that the matter is premeditated, contended that he paid a lot of money to the victim to settle the matter. In furtherance of the same, he showed bank details of various withdrawals and deposits. The Court, however, strongly rejected that contention as well, saying that the records of withdrawals and deposits serve no purpose, as they have no bearing on the fact that it was all paid to the victim.
The Advocate further alleged that the victim made a fake profile. “We are trying to test the allegations against you, not against her. So don’t say that what she has done, if you had anything against her, you could have filed a complaint”, Justice Nath noted on the allegations. “When you make relations, you must make sure that the relationship is going to stand or you will have to face the consequences”, he added further.
Then the counsel urged the Court to consider the extenuating circumstances in the matter that both the parties were adults and it was a consensual relationship. However, the court refused to accept the same.
For the background, in this case, a plea was preferred by the petitioner against the order passed by the Allahabad High Court whereby it refused to grant him anticipatory bail. As per the victim, she came into contact with the petitioner and they both became friends. Thereafter, he promised to marry her and hence, established a physical relationship.
