Court grants bail to actor Ashish Kapoor in rape case
New Delhi, Sep 14 (PTI): A Delhi court has granted bail to TV actor Ashish Kapoor in a rape case, saying he could not be kept incarcerated merely because the Delhi Police thought that he could commit a similar offence in future.
Additional Sessions Judge Bhupinder Singh was hearing the bail plea of Kapoor, against whom the Civil Lines police station had registered an FIR of penal provisions of rape, voluntarily causing hurt and common intention for an alleged incident dated August 9.
In an order dated September 10, the court said, "It is not the case (of the prosecution) that the accused or applicant is required for the purpose of investigation any more. The accused cannot be kept behind bars just for the reason that the police apprehends that he may commit a similar offence in future."
The court said the prosecution has underlined that the complainant could be threatened by the accused or he may flee from justice, but no action had been taken on the woman's complaint that she was approached on behalf of the accused, just 10 days after the alleged incident.
The court said two co-accused persons in the case have been granted bail earlier, and if the police were genuinely concerned that the complainant could be influenced, it would have challenged the relief.
"Further, the police did not even serve notice for appearance to the accused (Kapoor) for joining the investigation except on August 30, i.e., after three weeks of the incident.
"No efforts were made to make the accused join the investigation for a good 21 days, and all of a sudden, the police served the notice, with direction to join the investigation forthwith, and as per the Investigating Officer (IO), a police team was sent to Goa/Pune to arrest the accused simultaneously," the court said.
Kapoor was arrested within three days on September 2, and if the accused wanted to abscond, he would have done so immediately after the case was registered, it said.
"In fact, anticipatory bail application on his behalf was moved on September 2, only after the service of notice on August, with the direction to join the investigation immediately and not before that," the court said.
It said that Kapoor could not be expected to remain in his house at all times in the hope that the police may come any time.
The court said Kapoor had been quizzed in police custody for three days. But no sincere efforts were made to recover the mobile phone, neither were searches carried out, it added.
"Besides, there was nothing to suggest that the accused did not cooperate in the investigation," the court said.
"No previous involvement of the accused in any offence whatsoever has been brought to the notice of the court. The investigations, filing of police report, and further proceedings may take some time, and no purpose shall be served by keeping the accused behind bars," it said.
The woman's complaint that she was approached by people known to the accused can be taken care of by imposing appropriate conditions, it added.
"Thus, in view of the aforesaid observations and discussions, the facts and circumstances that have been brought to the notice of the court in view of the documents/ CCTV footages, in particular that the accused/applicant is not required for investigation any more, being permanent resident of Delhi and his clean antecedents, I find merits in the bail application and the same is accordingly allowed," judge Singh said.
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Assam polls: Cong announces first list of 42 candidates, Gaurav to contest from Jorhat
Guwahati (PTI): The opposition Congress on Tuesday took the lead in announcing its first list of 42 candidates for the upcoming assembly elections in Assam, with it comprising both sitting MLAs and former ministers, and also new faces, including sons of three prominent politicians.
The party's chief ministerial candidate and state president Gaurav Gogoi will contest from the prestigious Jorhat assembly constituency, currently held by BJP's Hitendra Nath Goswami.
The Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha will make his first electoral foray for the assembly.
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Gogoi is currently the party MP from the Jorhat parliamentary constituency and previously represented Kaliabor twice before it was reconstituted during the delimitation exercise in the state.
The leader of the opposition in the state assembly, Debabrata Saikia, will contest from the family stronghold of Nazira, which he has represented since 2016. His father, former chief minister Hiteswar Saikia, and his mother, Hemoprava Saikia, previously represented the constituency.
Three sitting MLAs -- Nandita Das from Hajo-Sualkuchi, Diganta Barman from Barkhetry and Nurul Huda from Rupohihat -- have also been included in the list.
Das, a two-time MLA, had earlier contested from Boko but following the delimitation exercise in the state, she has been shifted to Hajo-Sualkuchi while Barman and Huda will contest from the same seats they represented in the current assembly.
Former minister and state Congress president Ripun Bora will contest from Barchalla while another former minister, Ajit Singh, will contest from Udharbond constituency in Barak Valley.
Former minister and Deputy Speaker Pranati Phukan, a four-time MLA till 2016, will contest from Naharkatia in Upper Assam.
Tanzil Hussain, son of Dhubri MP Rakibul Hussain, will contest from Samaguri where he had lost to BJP's Diplu Ranjan Sarmah in the 2024 by-elections which was necessitated following the election of the senior Hussain to Lok Sabha.
Prateek Bordoloi, son of Nagaon MP Prodyut Bordoloi, will contest the Margherita seat which was represented by his father thrice since 2001.
Former five-time MP and prominent tea tribe leader Paban Singh Ghatowar's son Pranjal Ghatowar will contest from the Chabua-Lahowal seat.
Assam Pradesh Mahila Congress president Mira Borthakur, who had unsuccessfully contested the last parliamentary polls from Gauhati, has been given the ticket for the prestigious Dispur constituency.
Former BJP MLA Ashok Sarma, who was denied ticket by the ruling party in 2021 and went on to join the Congress in 2024, will contest from his previous Nalbari seat.
Another former BJP MLA and Deputy Speaker Aminul Haque Laskar, who joined the Congress in 2024, will contest from Sonai constituency in Barak Valley.
Former AGP MLA Satyabrat Kalita, who joined the Congress in September 2025, will contest from Kamalpur seat.
Other prominent faces in the list include former Congress MLAs Durga Bhumij from Doomdooma, Binanda Kumar Saikia from Sipahjhar and Bubul Das from Jagiroad (SC) constituency.
The Congress is a leading part of the unified opposition alliance, 'Asom Sonmilito Morcha', formed to challenge the ruling BJP, and has entered into seat-sharing arrangements with the Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) and the Left, but is yet to finalise it with Raijor Dal.
Presently, the ruling BJP's strength in the 126-member assembly is 64, while its allies AGP has nine MLAs, UPPL has seven and BPF has three members.
In the opposition camp, the Congress has 26 MLAs, AIUDF has 15 members and CPI(M) has one MLA. There is an Independent legislator as well.
