213 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Decided on : 06.03.2025 Chirag Sharma . . . Petitioner Versus State of Punjab . . . Respondent CORAM: HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE KIRTI SINGH Present : Ms. Apoorva Thakral, Advocate and Mr. Shivam Bhardwaj, Advocate for the petitioner Mr. R.S. Thind, DAG Punjab Mr. Nafeesh Ahmed, Advocate for the complainant ****

KIRTI SINGH, J. (Oral)

1. This is the first petition filed under Section 482 of BNSS for grant of anticipatory bail to the petitioner in case FIR No.364 dated 26.12.2024 under Sections 70(1), 71 and 351(2) of BNS, 2023 and Section 66 of Information Technology Act, registered at Police Station Sohana, District SAS Nagar, Punjab.

2. The contents of the above-mentioned FIR are reproduced herein below:-

“Statement of Pooja Singh D/o Deepak Kumar, R/o #165 Sector-1. Jagriti Vihar, Meerut, Mobile No., Age 22 years, Statement read as "I am the resident of the above-mentioned address, and pursuing MBA II from Chandigarh University, Mohali. In 10th Class I used take tuition from tution centre (Meerut), one Chirag Sharma S/o Praveen Sharma, R/o 281 Jagriti Vihar, Meerut used to study tuition and he lives near our house.

He used to keep an eye (bad one) on me, and used to follow me, when I completed +2 studies in 2019, I stopped going to tuition and then we did not have any contact.

After completing my B.COM from Meerut, I started studying MBA from Chandigarh University Mohali. In March 2023 I got a WhatsApp call from 6397101144, it was Chirag. He asked me how I was and a conversation started he asked me for my PG address Sector-12 Garden Colony, Kharar started coming there. One day he told me I will take you around and show me his PG which was at Blue Café PG Landran Road, Mohali. He asked me to eat food and I refused, then he forced me to eat after which I started to get dizzy. I told chirag I was Dizzy, he told me to lie down on the bed and I will be fine, so I went to lay down after which my condition deteriorated. After that chirag came near me and started touching me. I was aware of this happening but I didn't have the strength to oppose and stop him. Afterwhich I fainted and when I got up, I had my clothes on but my vaginal area was paining heavily and also I had marks on my whole body. When I told Chirag that you have not done good to me, he threatened me that I have made your videos, if you talk about this to anyone, I will make your nude/obscene video viral and kill you and your mother father and nobody will even know. After which again on 25 March 2023 he invited me to Chawla Hotel Landra Road Mohali where two other friends Akash Mishra and Divyansu brought food, we had food, they gave me a vegetable to eat and all three of them had food separately. Then again I started feeling dizzy and blurred vision. Then they took me to the bed but I felt 2-3 people touch me.

But I was unable to stop them. I regain my consciousness, and when I confronted chirag again, he started again blackmailing and threatening me and said I will do like this only. I got your more videos and now you have to do everything and if you don't do what I say, it won't be good for you. Chirag used to take me time and again to different hotels and sometimes in his PG where Chirag and his friends, Akash Mishra, Divyanshu, Akash Gupta, Ridham Mahajan used to make me drink cold drink or eat food which was spiked with some narcotic drug and then used to have non-consensual relations with me.

They used make nude videos of me. When I used to refuse to accompany them they blackmailed and threatened me that they will make my videos viral.

Therefore in order save face and from fear of humiliation I used to go wherever they called me and they also used to pick me up from my PG and take my phone and threatened me that if I told this to anyone, it won't be good for me and my family. One day, Ridham Mahajan sent a sticker of my nude video on WhatsApp, which he made on snapchat. On 19-12- 2024, at around 12 at night and on 20-