SC issues notice on ex-Army officer's plea for quashing charge sheet in rape case

A bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Ahsanuddin Amanullah issued notice to the Delhi police and the complainant in the matter. Advocate Ashwani Kumar Dubey, appearing for the petitioner, submitted that a wrongful and malicious prosecution had been initiated by the complainant. Dubey claimed seven FIRs against nine different people, including the petitioner, at seven different police stations, had been registered at her instance in the last eight years. The bench posted the matter on December 6 for hearing. The petitioner, Capt. Rakesh Walia (retired), had challenged a Delhi High Court order dismissing his plea for quashing the chargesheet. The high court in its order dated July 31 observed the matter was before the trial court, which would consider the arguments on behalf of the petitioner, and pass an appropriate verdict. "Petitioner is a 63-year-old decorated officer of the Indian Army with critical medical ailments, who has also suffered a massive heart attack and has two stents implanted. He was diagnosed with cancer and clinically declared as a highly immune-compromised case," submitted the plea. The plea further alleged the former Army officer was a "victim of an unscrupulous abuser" of law whose modus operandi was to extort the "hard-earned money of respectable citizens like him" by misusing the rape and molestation laws. It came on record that during the COVID-19 lockdown somewhere between 2019 and 2020, the complainant had got in touch with the petitioner claiming to be a social media influencer. The call was regarding the promotion of his book titled "Broken Crayons Can Still Colour" on various social media platforms for a wider audience reach. According to the plea, the petitioner was interested in the complainant's offer and decided to avail her service in June 2021, soon after the lockdown ended. On December 29, 2021, the petitioner agreed to meet the complainant in person to discuss the modalities for the promotion of his autobiography and they met at the Chhattarpur Metro Station following which they drove towards Noida, the plea stated. The petitioner, however, claimed that after he had dropped her off in Noida, he received a call from the local police at around 6 pm, informing him about the woman's complaint that he had sexually assaulted her at around 4.15 pm after drugging her.