Pre-arrest bail requires balancing individual liberty and the integrity of investigation in serious allegation cases, with special attention given to the nature and history of relationships involved.

ORDER :

KAUSER EDAPPAGATH, J.

This application is filed under Section 482 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (for short, BNSS ), seeking pre-arrest bail.

2. The applicant is the accused No.1 in Crime No.1750/2025 of Nemom Police Station, Thiruvananthapuram District (reregistered as Crime Branch Crime No.4275/CB/CU- 1/TVPM/R/2025 on 12/12/2025). The 3^rd respondent is the de facto complainant/victim. The accused No.2 is the friend of the accused No.1.

3. The offences alleged are punishable under Sections 64(2)(f), 64(2)(h), 64(2)(m), 89, 115(2) and 351(3), r/w Section 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (for short, the BNS) and Section 66E of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (for short, the IT Act).

4. The applicant is a politician and Member of the Legislative Assembly representing Palakkad constituency. He is a 36-year-old bachelor. The 3^rd respondent is a journalist working in a TV channel. She is a 27-year-old married woman; according to her, she is living separately from her husband due to marital discord. The prosecution alleges that the applicant established a friendship with the 3^rd respondent, who was estranged from her husband, by communicating directly via messages on platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp and Telegram. Subsequently, the applicant feigned emotional support and promised lifelong togetherness to her. Based on these promises, the applicant engaged in sexual intercourse with her multiple times at his flat in Palakkad on 27/1/2025 and 28/1/2025. Later, on 4/3/2025, at the 3^rd respondent’s rented apartment in Thrikkannapuram, Thiruvananthapuram, the applicant again engaged in sexual intercourse with her. Following this, on 17/3/2025, the applicant threatened the 3^rd respondent and recorded her nude visuals on his mobile phone and compelled her for oral sex. When the 3^rd respondent became pregnant, and the applicant became aware of it, he forcefully and brutally raped her again at her apartment in Thrikkannapuram on 22/4/2025. On the same day, he gave her two pregnancy aborting tablets named Mifepristone and Misoprostol and threatened her that he would commit suicide if she did not consume the tablets. Again, the 3^rd respondent was sexually assaulted in the last week of May 2025 at the flat of the applicant at Palakkad. Following instructions from the applicant, the accused No.2 procured abortion pills and personally delivered them to the 3^rd respondent on 30/5/2025. The applicant then coerced her through WhatsApp chats to consume the pills and through a WhatsApp video call to terminate the pregnancy.

5. The crime was initially registered by Valiyamala Police Station, Thiruvananthapuram as Crime No.896/2025 for the offences under Sections 64(2)(f), 64(2)(h), 64(2)(m), 89, 115(2) and 351(3), r/w Section 3(5) of the BNS and Section 66E of the IT Act based on the complaint sent by the 3^rd respondent to the Chief Minister of Kerala. Since the place of occurrence was within the Nemon Police Station limits, the case was transferred to Nemon Police Station, Thiruvananthapuram city. On 28/11/2025, the Station House Officer, Nemom Police Station, the 2^nd respondent, reregistered the crime as Crime No.1750/2025 and submitted the original FIR before the Judicial First-Class Magistrate Court- VII, Neyyattinkara. On the same day, the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court- III, Neyyatinkara, recorded the statement of the 3^rd respondent under Section 183 of the BNSS . The further investigation was entrusted to ACP, DCRB, Thiruvananthapuram City, as per