Punjab & Haryana HC Protects Deepak Chaurasia From Arrest In POCSO Case, Directs Him To Appear In Trial Court

The Punjab and Haryana High Court Thursday stayed the arrest of news anchor Deepak Chaurasia in a POCSO Act case and directed him to appear before the trial court in Gurgaon on or before November 17.

Justice Vivek Puri said Chaurasia shall move an application for bail and recall of warrant of arrest, before the Gurgaon court.

"It is further directed that the arrest of the petitioner shall remain stayed and the coercive steps ordered in the impugned order against the petitioner shall remain in abeyance till the disposal of the bail application and for a period of 07 days thereafter in the event the application is dismissed," said Justice Puri.

Chaurasia is facing trial in a 2015 case registered under Section 67B of the Information Technology Act, Sections 469, 471, 180, 120B of the IPC and Section 23 of the POCSO Act, 2012.

On October 28, the trial court cancelled Chaurasia's bail and ordered the issuance of an arrest warrant against him. He had failed to appear before the court on that date. Although he had moved an application seeking exemption from personal appearance on the ground of a health emergency, the trial court had said he was "intentionally avoiding his presence" before it.

Senior Advocate Sumeet Goel, representing Chaurasia, on November 10 told the high court that Chaurasia could not appear in the trial court on the date fixed as he was admitted in Aashlok Hospital. The court was informed that he was admitted on October 28 and discharged on November 03.

Accepting the submission, Justice Puri in the order said, "the discharge summary indicates that the petitioner was admitted in hospital on 28.10.2022 i.e. the date of hearing in the learned trial court. The confinement of the petitioner in the hospital has resulted in non-appearance in the trial court".

According to a Newslaundry report, Chaurasia is among the eight people who were charge-sheeted for airing "edited", "obscene" videos of a ten-year-old child and her family and linking the video to the sexual assault case against self-styled godman Asaram Bapu.

Case Title: Deepak Chaurasia v. State of Haryana

Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (PH) 293 

Click Here To Read/Download the Order