The Rajasthan High Court granted bail to a 19-year-old, charged with the offence of circulating sexually explicit material against the respondent-complainant and intimidating her on social media, by imposing a unique condition that the accused shall not use social media platforms for a period of 3 years in any form either in his name or any fictitious name.

The bench of Justice Ashok Kumar Jain highlighted that in light of other circumstances, and considering the future of the petitioner, who was a 2^nd year college student, the bail could be granted subject to certain stringent conditions to ensure that the safety and marital life of the victim were not jeopardized due to “notorious” and “whimsical” acts of the accused.

The complaint was filed by a 23-year-old married woman, alleging that the accused had edited and published sexually explicit material of her on social media platforms to harm her image and cause troubles in her marital life. Further he was also intimidating and blackmailing her using that material.

While seeking bail, it was submitted on behalf of the accused, that he was not required anymore in the investigation. He had no criminal antecedents, and he undertook to not repeat such offences and not use any social medial platforms.

After hearing the contentions, and perusing the records, the Court highlighted that the material on record clearly indicated that the petitioner used different mobile phone, and IDs on Instagram to commit the offence, and harm respondent's reputation and image.

However, considering other factors like the offence being triable by magistrate first class; stage of investigation; no criminal antecedents, and the age of the accused, the Court decided to grant him bail with a condition that he shall not use social media platforms for 3 years, in any manner, under any name.

Accordingly, the bail application was allowed.

Title: Akash v State of Rajasthan

Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (Raj) 319

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