The Kerala High Court on Wednesday granted bail to Rahul Pashupalan and Reshmi S. Nair of Kiss of Love fame and accused in a case relating to an online sex racket.
Justice Sunil Thomas ordered that they be released on bail on their executing a bond for Rs.75,000 each with two solvent sureties each to the like sum.
The other conditions of the bail are: they should report before the investigation officer on Mondays and Saturdays between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. for three months and shall not leave the State except for appearing in any other crimes registered outside the State with the permission of the court.
They should not threaten or influence the witnesses or complainant in the case. They should surrender their passport, if any.
The court observed that even though the allegations against the accused were serious, investigation had not been completed and the police had not filed the final report within the statutory period of 90 days.
Therefore, they were entitled to bail by default, the court said.
The two accused had been in custody since they were arrested on November 18, 2015. The prosecution case was that they had created a website and posted pornographic pictures of children with obscene and sexual comments and circulated them through the social network. They were part of a racket engaged in procuring and trafficking of minor girls, the prosecution alleged.
They have been charged with offences under Sections 366 A (procuring minor girl), 370(1) (exploitation of a trafficked person), and 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code, and various sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 and various provisions of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act.
