Mumbai, Jun 12 A court here on Friday granted anticipatory bail to a 21-year-old law student who is facing a criminal case for allegedly selling obscene videos of self-styled godman Ashok Kharat online.
Kharat, arrested for allegedly raping multiple women and cheating several people by professing to have occult powers, is currently in judicial custody.
While granting pre-arrest bail to Abhay Pratap, the student, additional sessions judge Nitin Jiwane noted that the videos in question were already available on the internet.
"The data which is available on social media platforms cannot be expected to be sold by the applicant," the court said.
The probe of the case, therefore, does not need his custodial interrogation, the judge held.
Cyber police have registered a case against Pratap, a resident of Uttar Pradesh and second-year LLB student, under section 294 (sale of obscene material online) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
Advocate Pratik Chavan, appearing for the accused, argued that he was falsely implicated and had no part in creating, editing, or originally publishing the material.
The lawyer also pointed out that the videos were already freely accessible on the internet.
