The Karnataka High Court Monday stayed proceedings in a rape case against a Bengaluru resident booked on a complaint lodged by a woman he had met through the online dating app Bumble..Justice M Nagaprasanna said that 22-year-old youth was "caught in a web of crime" for the "mistake" of having registered himself on a dating app. “This case projects the classic instance of the dangers of dating apps. The petitioner and the complainant register themselves on Bumble, a dating app. Their meeting leads them to a room in OYO. The next day the petitioner drops the complainant home. The very next day, the complainant goes to the police station and registers a crime of 376 of the IPC for the offence of rape," the single-judge noted. .The Court further recorded that police have already filed a chargesheet in the case."There is no allegation even of any forced sexual acts by the petitioner. They were, even according to the complainant, all consensual. But the contention is that such consent for the consensual acts was taken by force,” it said..The accused Sampras Anthony's counsel submitted that it was a case of consensual sex between him and the complainant After chatting online for some time in August this year, the two decided to meet and entered into a physical relationship, the Court was told.The next day, the woman registered a police complaint accusing him of rape, it was submitted. .The Court took note of his submission that the Investigating Officer filed the chargesheet without any application of mind.It also noted that the chats between the accused and the complainant were not made a part of the chargesheet and that all the witnesses’ statements were “verbatim identical.”Hence, it proceeded to grant interim relief to the petitioner.
