Supreme Court Grants Protection From Arrest To Man Accused Of Raping Olympian Mayookha Johny's Friend

The bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and AS Oka have also asked the counsel to place on record before the next date of hearing an affidavit explaining as to whether the counsel has handed over all the material related to abusive messages sent by Johnson to the victim to the investigating agency or not and the reason as to why custodial interrogation is required in the present matter.

The bench has also asked the Government's pleader to be present before the Court on September 30th, 2021.

While granting protection in the special leave petition filed by Johnson assailing Kerala High Court's order of dismissing his anticipatory bail plea, directions to the accused to cooperate in the investigation have also been issued.

Appearing for the victim, Advocate Vrinda Grover contended that the person against whom the complaint was made was not an ordinary man and was Minister of Emperor Emannuel Church.

Advocate Grover submitted that the victim was a follower of the congregation.  

"I am a follower but I have nothing to do with clergy or any of the men. I just attend a particular church," the Counsel said.

To explain the delay in filing the FIR (alleged incident taking place in 2016 and FIR being filed in 2021), Advocate Vrinda Grover argued that it was not easy for a woman to complain of being sexually assaulted if she had prospects of being married and that the complaint was only filed after the victim took her husband into confidence.

Advocate Grover also argued that irrespective of the alleged incident happening in 2016, the accused continued to intimidate the victim by sending her abusive messages.

Averring that the accused had retained victims nude pictures in a CD and that the material was not lost, she argued that, "It is very unlikely that a young married woman will go to the police station unless she is at the tipping point. She has been silenced into intimidation. When she continued she realised that there was no recourse for it & had to take recourse of law. SIT was also formed. The HC had ordered surrender forthwith," Advocate Grover submitted.

Contending that the complaint is not a bold one wherein the victim came forward to complaint about the alleged rape, Advocate Grover argued that nothing would happen if custodial interrogation was not permitted.

"Here is a case where she had been tied into the dynamic of power," Advocate Grover said.

During the course of the hearing, Advocate Vrinda Grover submitted that she had made a detailed elaboration in her complaint explaining the victim's silence.

"We understand and respect that there can be many reasons for a woman to stay silent," Justice Ajay Rastogi, Presiding Judge of the bench orally remarked.

"There are many cases that people sitting in religious positions are able to hold power," submitted Advocate Grover.

"It is beyond imagination that things are happening. In close relations, how are girls being exploited by their relatives? Even the statistics show the same. That's because they have easy access which is being misused," Justice Ajay Rastogi further remarked orally.

Senior Advocate R Basant and Advocate Raghenth Basant appearing for the accused argued that the incident allegedly occurred on 9.7.2016 and the complaint of rape was filed on 26.3. 2021 after almost 5 years.

He also submitted that johnson is a victim of the dispute between two factions of a church. 

The rape allegations surfaced after Olympian Mayookha Johny held a press conference accusing Johnson of raping her friend.

Case Before Kerala High Court

The anticipatory bail plea was filed in connection with a matter where the Olympian athlete's friend was allegedly raped and blackmailed by the petitioner herein in 2016. The victim had filed a complaint on 20th March 2021 alleging that CC Johnson, who served at the Emperor Emmanuel Church, broke into her residence on 9th July 2016 and raped her. Following the incident, it was contended that he threatened to publish her nude photos and videos, and regularly abused her over text messages on her phone.

The victim later turned out to be Johnny's friend. The athlete subsequently made headlines after holding a press conference levelling serious allegations against the investigation agencies in the case. She alleged that her friend was being threatened and that the investigation had come to a standstill due to the intervention of highly influential persons in favour of the accused.

In his pre-arrest bail plea, the petitioner had submitted that the complaint was filed five years after the alleged incident occurred, and claimed it was an outcome of differences between two factions of the Emperor Emmanuel Church. He added that the complaint was filed by the victim after he left the church.

The prosecution had vehemently opposed the application on the ground that custodial interrogation of the accused was necessary for progress in the matter and that his phone was yet to be recovered.

Justice Shircy V while dismissing the petition informed the accused, "You will have to surrender before the Police."

The Petition has been filed through Advocate Purnima Krishna . Olympian Mayokha Johny's friend (victim) had filed a caveat through Advocate on Record Salvador Santosh Rebello.

Case Title: CC Johnson v State of Kerala

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