Supreme Court Grants Pre-Arrest Bail To Man Accused Of Raping Olympian Mayookha Johny's Friend

The Supreme Court on Friday granted anticipatory bail to C.C Johnson, the man accused of raping Olympian Mayookha Johny's friend, and for capturing her nude photographs to blackmail her with a direction to the accused to cooperate with the investigation. 

The bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and A.S Oka while disposing of the special leave petition assailing the Kerala High Court's order dismissing his anticipatory bail plea, observed:

"Taking into consideration the facts and circumstances and the submissions made by the parties, we are satisfied that the petitioner has made out a case for pre-arrest bail. In the event of his arrest, the petitioner shall be released on pre-arrest bail on such terms and conditions to the satisfaction of the concerned Trial Court. The petitioner shall cooperate in the pending investigation. If he fails to cooperate in the pending investigation, the respondents are at liberty to move an application for cancellation of bail before the appropriate Court."

During the previous hearing of the matter, the bench had granted him protection from arrest and directed the counsel for the victim to submit why custodial interrogation was required in the matter.

Senior Advocate R Basant and Advocate Raghenth Basant appearing for the accused had 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. They had submitted that Johnson was a victim of the dispute between two factions of a church.

Appearing for the victim, Advocate Vrinda Grover contended that the accused was not an ordinary man but the Minister of Emperor Emannuel Church.

To explain the delay in filing the FIR,  she 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.

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

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

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 rape allegations surfaced after Olympian Mayookha Johny held a press conference accusing Johnson of raping her 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: C.C Johnson v State of Kerala

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