2 months on, court grants bail to Nida Khan; denies relief to prime accused Danish Shaikh

Co-accused Tausif Attar also gets bail; he will, however, remain in custody for 5 other cases registered at Mumbai Naka police station on allegations of hurting religious sentiments and sexual harassment.

Pune/Nashik: A Nashik sessions court on Monday granted bail to Nida Khan and Tausif Attar, two of the accused in the alleged TCS-linked BPO case involving charges of sexual harassment and religious coercion, while rejecting the bail plea of the prime accused, Danish Shaikh.

Nashik [Maharashtra], May 11 (ANI): The accused Nida Khan appears before the Nashik Road Court in connection with the ongoing Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) case, in Nashik on Monday. The court has remanded a fourteen-day judicial custody. (ANI Video Grab) (ANI Video Grab)

Additional Sessions Judge K G Joshi passed the order after hearing arguments from both the prosecution and the defence on the bail applications last month.

The three were arrested by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Nashik City Police in connection with the a case registered by the Deolali Camp police on March 26 following a complaint by a woman employee of the BPO. The complainant accused Danish Shaikh of sexually assaulting her on the false promise of marriage and alleged that Nida Khan and Tausif Attar had hurt her religious sentiments and coerced her in matters related to religion.

While granting bail to Nida and Tausif, the court refused to extend similar relief to Danish, observing that the allegations against him were serious.

“Considering the nature of the alleged offence and the trauma suffered by the victim, he does not deserve to be released on bail until the evidence of material witnesses is recorded during the trial,” the court said in its order.

Advocate Baba Sayeed, counsel for Nida Khan and Tausif Attar, said Nida had been granted bail on a surety of ₹75,000 and would be released from judicial custody after completing the bail formalities. Khan, also represented by senior advocate Rahul Kasliwal, sought bail primarily on the ground of her pregnancy.

“Nida is four months pregnant. She will be released from jail as soon as the bail conditions are fulfilled,” Sayeed said.

However, he clarified that Attar would remain in custody despite securing bail in the Deolali Camp case, as he is also an accused in five other cases registered at Mumbai Naka police station on allegations of hurting religious sentiments and sexual harassment.

Public Prosecutor Vijay Gaikwad, along with the victim’s lawyers, Milind Kurkute and Nitin Pandit, opposed the bail pleas of Khan and Shaikh. Their contention was that evidence of sexual assault and religious coercion came to the fore during the investigation of the case.

The prosecution submitted that Shaikh gave an Islamic book and burqa to the victim, a co-worker, with the motive of religious conversion. They said all this suggests the victim was intentionally sexually exploited and that efforts were made for her religious conversion.

The prosecution also claimed that the accused, despite knowing that the victim was from a Scheduled Caste, attempted to convert her. The duo - Shaikh and Nida - was also booked under relevant provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

Shaikh’s counsel, Faiz Wasif, said his client would challenge the order before the Bombay High Court within the next few days.

During the course of the investigation, the Nashik City Police registered nine FIRs against eight employees of the BPO between March 26 and April 3. One FIR was registered at Deolali Camp police station, while the remaining eight were lodged at Mumbai Naka police station based on complaints by nine employees alleging sexual harassment and religious coercion at the workplace.

While eight accused were arrested during the investigation, Nida Khan remained absconding for 42 days before being arrested by the Nashik City Police in a joint operation with the Sambhajinagar police on May 7 from a house in Sambhajinagar. She has remained in judicial custody since her arrest.

(With agency inputs)