BREAKING: Supreme Court grants anticipatory bail to Indian Youth Congress President Srinivas BV in outraging modesty case

The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted anticipatory bail to Indian Youth Congress (IYC) President Srinivas BV in the case registered against him for allegedly outraging the modesty of a former Congress worker. [BV Srinivas v. State of Assam].A Bench of Justices BR Gavai and Sanjay Karol avoided going into details of the arguments during the anticipatory bail stage. Instead, they focused solely on minimum facts and dates."Though arguments on merits have been advanced at length, we do not propose to consider the same. It is a settled position of law right ... that a detailed elaboration of evidence at the stage of grant or rejection of application for bail/anticipatory bail has to be avoided inasmuch as the same has an effect on the rights of the parties at the trial. As such, we are only referring to the bare minimum facts and dates for considering the present application," the Court said..Accordingly, taking into account the two month's delay in lodging the first information report (FIR), the Court determined that Srinivas was entitled to interim protection.It ordered that he be released on anticipatory bail on furnishing a bond of ₹50,000 with one or two sureties of like amount. It directed the IYC President to cooperate with the probe and also issued notice to the State of Assam..The Bench was hearing a plea filed by Srinivas challenging an order of the Gauhati High Court that refused to quash the FIR lodged against him.He claimed that a plain reading of the complaint failed to show the ingredients to make out the offences alleged. It was stressed that the Assam Police had no jursidiction to investigate or register an FIR for an offence that had allegedly taken place in Chhattisgarh..In her complaint, the woman alleged that during the plenary session of the Congress Party held at the Mayfair Hotel in Raipur on March 25, she was heckled at the entrance of the hotel by Srinivas, who allegedly held her arms and also threatened her by using slang words. The complainant claimed that he had threatened her with dire consequences if she disclosed the incident to the high office bearers of the Congress Party. Despite informing the high office bearers of the Congress Party about his behaviour, no action was taken, she claimed..Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, assisted by advocate Rajesh Inamdar, appeared for Srinivas.Additional Solicitor General SV Raju represented the State of Assam.[Read order]