Orissa High Court

Mithun Bhatta vs State Of Odisha .... Opposite Party on 23 April, 2025

Author: S.K. Panigrahi

Bench: S.K. Panigrahi

Signature Not Verified
Digitally Signed
Signed by: BHABAGRAHI JHANKAR
Reason: Authentication
Location: ORISSA HIGH COURT, CUTTACK
Date: 25-Apr-2025 20:05:06

IN THE HIGH COURT OF ORISSA AT CUTTACK

BLAPL No.2305 OF 2025
Mithun Bhatta .... Petitioner
Mr. Tara Prasad Mohapatra, Adv.
-versus-
State of Odisha .... Opposite Party
Mr. Pradipta Satpathy, ASC

CORAM:
DR.JUSTICE S.K. PANIGRAHI

Order No. ORDER
01. 23.04.2025

F.I.R. Dated Police Case No. and Sections
No. Station Courts' Name
570 06.11.2024 Brahmagiri G.R. Case No.652 Sections 376
of 2024 pending in (2)(n)/ 384/ 506/
the court of 450 of the of the
learned I.P.C. read with
Nyayadhikari Sections 66(E)/ 67
Gramyanyayalaya, of the Information
Brahmagiri Technology Act,
2000.

1. This matter is taken up through hybrid arrangement.

2. Heard learned counsel for the Petitioner and learned counsel

for the State.

3. The Petitioner being in custody in connection with Brahmagiri

P.S. Case No.570 of 2024 corresponding to G.R. Case No.652 of

2024 pending in the court of the learned Nyayadhikari

Gramyanyayalaya, Brahmagiri, registered for the alleged

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Signature Not Verified
Digitally Signed
Signed by: BHABAGRAHI JHANKAR
Reason: Authentication
Location: ORISSA HIGH COURT, CUTTACK
Date: 25-Apr-2025 20:05:06

commission of offences under Sections 376 (2)(n)/ 384/ 506/ 450

of the of the I.P.C. read with Sections 66(E)/ 67 of the

Information Technology Act, 2000, has filed this petition for his

release on bail.

4. On 06.11.2024 at 3:00 PM, the complainant, Lingaraj Bhatt, filed

a written report at Brahmagiri Police Station, alleging that since

2022, one Mithun Bhatt (the accused), son of the late Bhagaban

Bhatt, had developed a relationship with his daughter (the

victim) under the pretext of marriage. Exploiting this situation,

the accused repeatedly coerced the victim into a physical

relationship by threatening to blackmail her. He allegedly

intimidated her with threats to leak her private photos on

social media if she resisted. Based on the complainant's report,

Brahmagiri P.S. Case No. 570 of 2024 was registered against the

accused for the aforementioned offenses, and a police

investigation was initiated.

5. The learned counsel for the Petitioner submits that the

petitioner has been falsely implicated in the present case. There

is no credible or incriminating material on record to connect

him to the alleged offenses. The petitioner has been in custody

since 07.11.2024, and the charge sheet was filed on 02.01.2025.

In light of these facts, the counsel prays that the petitioner be

enlarged on bail, as continued detention is unjustified in the

absence of substantial evidence.

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Signature Not Verified
Digitally Signed
Signed by: BHABAGRAHI JHANKAR
Reason: Authentication
Location: ORISSA HIGH COURT, CUTTACK
Date: 25-Apr-2025 20:05:06

6. Learned counsel for the State vehemently opposes the bail

application, contending that the petitioner is accused of serious

and heinous offenses. It is submitted that the petitioner

established a physical relationship with the victim under false

assurances of marriage, illegally recorded explicit videos of her

without consent, and circulated the same on social media,

thereby causing her grave humiliation and distress. Given the

egregious nature of the allegations and the potential for

evidence tampering, the State strongly opposes any grant of

bail to the petitioner.

7. This Court finds it necessary to observe that in cases involving

allegations of sexual offences arising from relationships

developed on the basis of a purported promise of marriage, the

issue of consent must be approached with careful

consideration. While the law recognises that consent obtained

through deception or coercion may not be valid, it is equally

important to acknowledge the principle of sexual autonomy,

which presumes that an individual is capable of making

voluntary choices unless demonstrably impaired. Allegations

that consent was vitiated solely on the ground of a failed

promise may not, in every case, constitute an offence,

particularly where the nature of the relationship suggests

mutual engagement over a sustained period. Premature

conclusions regarding lack of consent, in the absence of clear

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Signed by: BHABAGRAHI JHANKAR
Reason: Authentication
Location: ORISSA HIGH COURT, CUTTACK
Date: 25-Apr-2025 20:05:06

indicators of coercion or bad faith, may cause unfair prejudice.

Each case must therefore turn on its own facts, and courts must

tread cautiously in drawing inferences at the pre-trial stage.

8. This Court had an occasion to deal with a case of similar facts

to this case i.e. in CRLMC No.4485 of 2024 (Manoj Kumar

Munda -vrs. State of Odisha & Anr.) wherein the Petitioner/

alleged accused had challenged the proceeding initiated

against him for commission of the alleged offences under

Sections 376(2)(a), 376(2)(i), 376(2)(n), 294, 506, and 34 of the

I.P.C. This Court vide judgment dated 14.02.2025 taking into

account the various judicial pronouncements of the Supreme

Court had made an elaborate discussions on the concept of

consent and the issue of sexual autonomy and allowed the

CRLMC No.4485 of 2024 quashing the proceedings against the

Petitioner. The ordering portion of the said judgment is

extracted hereinbelow:

"36. The legal system, by criminalizing sex under
a "false promise of marriage," upholds this
performative construct, one that assumes that
women engage in sexual relationships only as a
prelude to matrimony, rather than as autonomous
agents of their own desires.

37. In its pursuit of justice, the law must not
become an instrument of moral policing. It must
acknowledge that sexual agency is not a promise,
nor is it a contract that mandates a predetermined

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Digitally Signed
Signed by: BHABAGRAHI JHANKAR
Reason: Authentication
Location: ORISSA HIGH COURT, CUTTACK
Date: 25-Apr-2025 20:05:06

outcome. To assume otherwise is to deny women
the full measure of their autonomy, desire, and
choice, reducing them to mere bearers of honour,
rather than as individuals possessing an intrinsic
right to their own bodies and decisions.
...

39. It is in this light that the automatic criminalization of failed relationships under the guise of "false promise of marriage" must be scrutinized. The assumption that every physical relationship between a man and a woman carries the implicit condition of matrimony is not a principle of law but a vestige of control."

9. Considering the facts and circumstances, and keeping in view

the submissions of the learned counsel for the Petitioner, and

the view taken in Manoj Kumar Munda (supra), this Court is of

the view that the Petitioner should be granted bail by the court

in seisin over the matter in the aforesaid case, on some stringent

terms and conditions with further conditions that:-

i. The Petitioner shall appear before the local Police Station on every Monday between 10 A.M. to 1.00 P.M.;

ii. The Petitioner shall not indulge himself in any criminal offence while on bail;

iii. The Petitioner shall not tamper with the evidence or intimidate the prosecution witnesses in any manner; and iv. The Petitioner, after the onset of monsoon, shall plant 200 saplings of local varieties, such as mango, neem, tamarind, etc., around his village on Government land, community land, or private land in the

Location: ORISSA HIGH COURT, CUTTACK

possession of the Petitioner or his family members. In the event that suitable land is unavailable, the Revenue Authority shall assist in identifying the land for plantation.

Violation of any of the above conditions shall lead to

cancellation of the bail.

10.The District Nursery/D.F.O. shall extend the helping hand by

supplying the saplings to the Petitioner and the Revenue

Authority shall assist the Petitioner in identifying the location

for plantation of the saplings. If the land is not available, the

Petitioner to approach the Revenue Authority for identifying

the land for plantation and the Revenue Authority shall do the

needful.

11.The I.I.C. of the concerned Police Station in coordination with

the local Forest Officer shall monitor; whether the Petitioner

has planted the saplings or not.