The Bombay High Court on Friday chastised model-celebrity Rakhi Sawant for publishing explicit videos of another model, who eventually filed a case against Sawant for defamation and outraging modesty.
Sawant’s behaviour was questioned by single-judge Justice Anuja Prabhudessai, who asked her to maintain some “ethical standards” against another woman.
“Why should you engage in such acts as displaying obscene videos in the media?” Another woman was also involved in this. Some ethical principles, some standards must be maintained,” the Court remarked.
Justice Prabhudessai was hearing Sawant’s plea seeking anticipatory bail.
Sawant is charged with violating Sections 354(A) (outraging a woman’s modesty), 500 (defamation), 504 (criminal intimidation), 509 (purpose to provoke breach), and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), as well as Section 67(A) of the Information and Technology Act. (IT Act).
The FIR was filed against Sawant after a model filed a complaint alleging that on October 31, last year, Sawant showed certain sexually explicit videos of the complainant at a press conference and made defamatory allegations.
After the Mumbai Sessions Court at Dindoshi denied her anticipatory bail application, Sawant moved the High Court, arguing that, except from Section 67(A) of the IT Act, all other provision invoked against her are bailable.
On Friday, the Court questioned the complainant’s lawyer about how Section 67(A) of the IT applied in this matter.
“She showed the video, but will it be transmitted or forwarded? What caused it to be transmitted? Did she forward the footage to the media? Did she say publish it? Otherwise, the penalty under this section is merely five years, and she has already surrendered the phone. What else is there to be done? How will the police look into defamation? The FIR makes no mention of the media spreading this information. According to the FIR, the footage is already public. It was on YouTube,” inquired the judge.
According to the complainant’s lawyer, the footage Sawant showed at the press conference was afterwards uploaded to YouTube at Sawant’s behest.
At this point, the Court directed Mumbai Police to take immediate action to ensure that the video, if it is still available on YouTube, be removed.
“Whatever video is in the media where this obscene video is displayed, that video must be removed. Not only should the interview be removed, but so should the obscene video that was shown during the conference,” the Court stated.
