The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted anticipatory bail to businessman and Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty's husband Raj Kundra, models Sherlyn Chopra and Poonam Pandey and one Umesh Kamat in a case in which a FIR was filed against them for creating obscene content and showing it on OTT platforms.
A bench of Justice KM Joseph and BV Nagarathna said that all must cooperate and join the investigation as and when required.
It asked all the accused to approach the concerned Mumbai trial court for regular bail. The Maharashtra police did not oppose the anticipatory bail pleas of the accused.
"Having heard the parties, we say that these are cases where the petitioners should be allowed anticipatory bail subject to conditions imposed by the trial court. In case they are required in the future case, they should fully cooperate. The trial court should necessarily incorporate this as a condition," the apex court stated in its order.
The apex court initially questioned whether bail can be granted in a case like this. "What message will it send to society," asked the court.
We will protect you till you can go to the court for regular bail, said the bench.
Raj Kundra, Poonam Pandey, Sherlyn Chopra and Umesh Kamat sought direction to quash obscenity proceedings against them.
Maharashtra cyber police have filed a charge sheet against them in a case related to making pornographic content and circulating it on OTT platforms for financial consideration.
They have been charged with shooting obscene videos in two suburban five-star hotels, as per the Cyber Police's charge sheet filed before a court.
Allegations against Kundra were for allegedly producing and distributing porn films using a subscriber-driven mobile app called 'Hotshots'.
Kundra had claimed that there was no evidence of him being actively involved in the creation of the alleged content and that he was being falsely implicated.
( With inputs from ANI )
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