Clubhouse app chat case: Accused committed offence against all women, says court while refusing bail

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Stating that the offence was committed against "womanhood", a court here refused bail to Akash Suyal (19), arrested for allegedly making objectionable comments about women and a particular community in conversations on the Clubhouse app.

Additional sessions judge Sanjashree Gharat on February 22 rejected Suyal's bail plea. The detailed order became available on Saturday.

Suyal and two others, Jaishnav Kakkar and Yash Parashar, all residents of Haryana, were arrested in January by the Mumbai police's cyber cell. According to the police, the accused created 'chat rooms' on Clubhouse, an audio social media platform, and made derogatory and offensive comments about women in general and a particular community during online conversations in these chat rooms.

While Kakkar and Parashar were granted bail by a magistrate's court, Suyal's bail plea was rejected, following which he moved the sessions court. While denying him relief, the sessions court noted that the investigation was in progress and if the accused was granted bail it would create hurdles in the probe. "The accused was found passing comments against females and a particular community. The offence is not committed against any one individual. It is an offence against all women," the court held. Suyal was using "defamatory and derogatory statements against womanhood," Judge Gharat added.

He had also created a group with derogatory names, she noted. The bail plea claimed that he was falsely implicated. He was a young man and unwarranted incarceration would ruin his educational career and future, it said.

The case has been registered against the accused under Indian Penal Code sections 153 (A) (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc), 195 (A) (threatening a person to give false evidence), 354 (A) (sexual harassment), 354 (D) (stalking), 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman), 500 (defamation) and section 67 of the Information Technology Act.

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