The Kerala High Court recently directed the police to ensure safety of a college student who earlier this year filed a rape case against a leader of the Students' Federation of India (SFI) [XXX v District Police Chief & Ors]

Justice VG Arun passed the order on a plea moved by the complainant for police protection. She said the accused after being granted bail, was threatening her to withdraw the case.

The Court issued notice to the police and the accused on her plea.

"In the meanwhile, the 3rd respondent [police] shall ensure that the petitioner is not put to any physical harm by the 4th respondent [accused]," the Court further directed.

In February this year, the Police had registered a case under various provisions of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against the accused.

The complainant, a college student in Sasthamkotta, said the accused had raped her multiple times between October 2022 and November 2023 on the false promise of marriage. She also alleged that the accused had extracted ₹9 lakh from her under threat.

Admittedly, she had been in love with the accused. After his arrest, the accused was released on bail on March 6.

In her petition, the complainant said the accused while on bail was continuously threatening her and demanding that she withdraw the case.

"4th respondent is continuously threatening the petitioner for withdrawing the complaint. The 4th respondent also threatened that if the petitioner proceeded with the prosecution case he will kill the petitioner and her mother and sister," the plea said.

She added that since no action was taken by the police despite multiple complaints, she approached the High Court for relief.

The petitioner was represented by advocates Gopan R and D Jai Singh.

[Read Order]