Madhya Pradesh High Court Denies Bail To Woman Accused Of Extortion For Filing False Rape Cases Against Multiple Persons

Observing that there are direct allegations against the accused, the Madhya Pradesh High Court has refused the grant of bail in a case registered against a woman for extortion.

The single-judge bench of Justice Maninder S. Bhatti held that the case diary revealed clear allegations of extortion including the complainant being threatened by the accused to give the latter a sum of Rs 1,80,000/-.

“…. It is also not in dispute that the present applicant has also lodged 5 cases under Section 376 I.P.C against different persons including two cases against one…. who, according to the applicant, is her husband”, the court accordingly rejected the first bail application preferred by the woman.

Previously, an FIR was registered at Omti Police Station in Jabalpur against the woman for the offences under Sections 384, 389, 452, 506, and 427 of the IPC in January 2023.

Counsel for the applicant woman, Vishal Daniel, submitted that no property or valuable security of any kind was delivered to her, which means no case of extortion as per Section 383 is made out, as laid down in Isaac Isanga Musumba and others v. State of Maharashtra & Others (2014).

It was stated that the woman also did not attempt to ransack the complainant's house as alleged by the prosecution, and hence the offence under Section 452 is not attracted, added the counsel. The applicant herself has filed four cases against her husband and she has been in custody since February 2024, the counsel further submitted.

On the other hand, Government Advocate C.S. Parmar and Advocate Aman Dawra appearing for the objector/complainant took the stance that the applicant has repeatedly filed frivolous cases against various persons which formed the basis for the trial court's rejection of her bail application.

It was argued that the woman has also blackmailed multiple persons in the past and lodged false FIRs against them, the counsels vehemently argued.

In the current instance, the act of the accused who ransacked the complainant's shop is captured by the CCTV cameras, the counsels apprised the bench sitting at Jabalpur.

Accordingly, the court denied bail.

Case No: Misc. Criminal Case No. 11714 Of 2024

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