Virat Kohli, Anushka Sharma Consent To Quash FIR Against Man Who Allegedly Tweeted Rape Threat To Their Daughter After T20 Loss In 2021

The Bombay High Court on Monday quashed the FIR and charge sheet against a student accused of giving a rape threat to the 11-month-old infant of former Indian Cricket Team Captain Virat Kohli and actor Anushka Sharma, after a no-objection from the couple.

A division bench of Justices AS Gadkari and PK Naik quashed the FIR against Hyderabad techie Ramnagesh Srinivas Akubathini registered by the Cyber Police under Section 354A (sexual harassment), 506 (criminal intimidation), 500 (defamation) of the IPC and Sections 67 & 67B of the IT Act 2000.

Since the couple registered the FIR through their manager, the ‘No-objection’ to quash the FIR was also through their manager Aquilia Norman D’Souza.

D’Souza stated that the young man had written to her on April 5, 2023 and requested the couple to consent for quashing of the FIR. On being satisfied with the genuineness of the contents of the letter, the couple instructed their manager to give her “no-objection.”

The Case

On October 24, India lost a world cup match to Pakistan for the first time. Kohli stood up for Indian cricketer Mohammad Shami, who was trolled because of his poor performance against Pakistan in the T20 World Cup based on his religion.

The prosecution alleged that Akubathini while responding to certain comments online crossed his limits and made some sexually coloured remarks against the child of one of the member of Indian Cricket Team. An FIR was registered based on Kohli's manager's complaint.

Impediment to Future Prospects

Advocate Abhijeet Desai and Karan Gajra appeared for the accused in the quashing petition.

In his 2022 petition before the Bombay High Court, Akubathini, who hails from Telangana claimed that he was a meritorious student and a rank-holder in the JEE (Advanced) Exam. He also submitted an appreciation letter from his employer.

He said he wished to pursue Masters abroad and the pending FIR would act as an impediment to his future prospects. He said the IP address was no conclusive proof of him having committed the crime and the mischief could have been played by someone else as well.

The tweet was allegedly made while replying to a thread of tweet by 2 accounts. Moreover, while granting the techie bail in November, last year, the Magistrate said that the accused didn’t appear to have addressed his remarks directly to the cricketer or his family.

Consequently, the FIR was quashed.

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Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Bom) 187