Supreme Court Grants Protection From Arrest To Sherlyn Chopra In Porn Videos Case

Advocate, Mr. Sunil Fernandes appearing on behalf of the actress apprised the Bench comprising Justices Vineet Saran and Aniruddha Bose that Ms. Poonam Pandey, who was a co-accused and was alleged to have committed the same offences, has been granted protection from arrest by the Apex Court vide its order dated 18.01.2022. He submitted that he was seeking similar relief for Ms. Chopra. The Bench issued notice and granted the protection that no coercive action shall be taken against the petitioner.

An FIR had been registered with the Nodal Cyber Police Station against Ms. Chopra, Ms. Pandey along with other co-accused for offence punishable under Section 292 of the IPC, Section 67 and 67A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 and Section 3 and 4 of Indecent Women Representation Act, 1986.

The complaint was lodged alleging that websites broadcasting/exhibiting indecent video, audio filed having lascivious, lustful, offensive sexual desire messages and videos were openly available through internet. Ms. Chopra was alleged to have acted in these obscene video clips.

She had approached the Bombay High Court seeking protection from arrest. The Counsel appearing on behalf of Ms. Chopra had urged the High Court that she had cooperated in the investigation and had honoured the notice issued under Section 41A CrPC. Vide order dated 25.11.2021, the High Court noted that the custodial interrogation of the accused was necessary and therefore, rejected pre-arrest bail to all.

[Case Title: Sherlyn Chopra v. State of Maharashtra SLP(Crl) No. 834 of 2022]