Mumbai, Nov 15 (IANS) The accused arrested in the case of Bollywood actress Sonakshi Sinha’s morphed pictures has claimed that the actress used her influence to bypass the legal procedure.
A Mumbai Magistrate Court observed that the arrest made in relation to the case of Bollywood actress Sonakshi Sinha’s obscene videos and photos didn’t follow the official protocol.
The court declared the arrest of Aryan Deepak Jain, the accused, as illegal and ordered his release. Aryan was arrested from Delhi on Saturday and produced before a magistrate court in Mumbai on a complaint filed by the actress.
The accused’s lawyers claimed that the accused was not given the requisite notice before his arrest, nor was he told the reason for his arrest. He also said that the accused was taken out of Delhi’s border by a flight in a very confidential manner.
The counsel for the accused further argued that he was not produced before the local magistrate court in Delhi, which is required by law, and the authorities acted in haste pointing out the actress’ influential background. The actress is politically well-connected as her father, actor Shatrughan Sinha is a Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha from Asansol constituency as a member of All India Trinamool Congress.
The magistrate observed that it appears that the police brought the accused directly from Delhi to this court, while the legal procedure to produce him before the nearest magistrate court there was not followed earlier, the investigating agency has not given any satisfactory reason on record to understand why the mandatory legal procedure was not followed.
The actress’ morphed pictures and videos went viral on social media a while ago, for which one of the accused was arrested. Sonakshi alleged that a man from Delhi had shared her morphed pictures on social media. Aryan was arrested from Jagatpuri police station in Delhi’s Shahdara. However, he was not produced before the nearest magistrate court in Delhi before being brought to Mumbai.
The accused claimed that he has not committed any crime and prima facie the sections imposed on the facts of this case are also not applicable.
“It is not clear from the record that the investigating officer has complied with these mandatory rules satisfactorily”, the court said. Arresting and detaining a person merely on the ground of the need to investigate further cannot be justified, especially when the legal rules relating to arrest have not been followed.
–IANS
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