Racial abuse case: Court reserves order on accused couple’s bail

A Delhi court has reserved its bail order for a couple accused of racially abusing three women from Arunachal Pradesh, with a decision expected Tuesday.

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Monday reserved its order on the bail plea of a couple accused of racially abusing three women from Arunachal Pradesh in south Delhi’s Malviya Nagar.

The order is likely to be passed on Tuesday. (Photo for representation)

The proceedings took place before Additional Sessions Judge Samar Vishal of Saket courts, and the order is likely to be passed on Tuesday.

The couple, Harsh Singh and his wife Ruby Jain, were arrested on February 25 for allegedly hurling racial slurs at the three women living in a rented flat in the same building in Malviya Nagar.

According to police, the verbal scuffle started when the three women were having an electrical installation done at their house and some dust allegedly fell on the accused couple’s house.

The incident came to light almost a week later after a video pertaining to the incident went viral on social media.

Opposing the couple’s bail plea, police told the court that the investigation was ongoing and they had yet to match the couple’s voice samples with the video.

The counsel for the complainants, meanwhile, submitted that if let out on bail, the couple might threaten the women again as shortly after the incident, the accused had attempted to “pressurise” the victims to de-escalate the matter.

However, the couple’s counsel, advocate Gaurav, argued that the case arose out of a sudden neighbourhood altercation which cannot be termed a premeditated offence.

The counsel argued: “There are no allegations of a physical injury and no weapons have been used…the incident was purely a personal neighbourhood dispute and was not identity motivated.”

He added that the couple had already cooperated in the investigation and apologised for the incident. “The entire incident was captured on video and uploaded by the complainant themselves. No recoveries are pending as their phones have been seized and the video of the incident is available,” the advocate argued.

A case had been registered against the couple under sections 79 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman), 351 (criminal intimidation), 3(5) (common intention) and 196 (promoting enmity between different groups on the ground of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc, and doing acts prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.