Clubhouse app case: Court directs accused to undergo counselling

Mumbai: A metropolitan magistrate court at Bandra has directed Akash Suyal, an accused in the Clubhouse app case, to undergo counselling for general social behaviour and to learn “netiquettes” (norms of behaviour while using social media and other online platforms)

Mumbai: A metropolitan magistrate court at Bandra has directed Akash Suyal, an accused in the Clubhouse app case, to undergo counselling for general social behaviour and to learn “netiquettes” (norms of behaviour while using social media and other online platforms).

Suyal is accused of being the creator of two chat rooms on the Clubhouse application where participants made derogatory statements about women and talked about auctioning their bodies.

Metropolitan magistrate Komal Singh Rajput has also directed Suyal to submit a report after concluding the counselling session. The directive was issued on Thursday when the court granted bail to Suyal. The detailed order became available on Monday.

Suyal is accused of being the creator of two chat rooms on the Clubhouse application where participants made derogatory statements about women and talked about auctioning their bodies. Mumbai police cyber cell also alleged that Suyal was the moderator and main speaker on the application.

The 19-year-old was arrested from Haryana along with two others -- Jaishnav Kakkar, 20, and Yash Parashar, 22, three days after the FIR was registered by the cyber cell on January 19, 2022.

The magistrate court granted him bail primarily in view of the fact that now the investigation is complete and the chargesheet is filed. The court also took into consideration his young age and said that keeping him in jail will adversely affect his family and his future prospects. “The possibility of commencement of trial and its conclusion in near future appears dim,” said the court noting that two others arrested with him were already out on bail.

The court, however, also took serious note of the prosecutor’s contention that the accused crossed all limits of decency and morality while posting information on social platforms, and because of the objections raised by the prosecution, directed Suyal to undergo counselling sessions for general social behaviour and netiquette.

Suyal had filed for bail through advocate Akshay Bafna contending that he is a young college student and son of a martyred army man survived by his mother, a housewife. He had also pointed out that the investigation of the case was already over and urged the court to release the teenager on bail since the maximum punishment prescribed for the offences levelled against him was only up to three years imprisonment.