Chandigarh, January 1
In a first, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has made it clear that sending vulgar messages and blackmailing women after floating "objectionable photographs" on the Internet amounts to "outraging honour". Dubbing it as a "grave and heinous offence," the High Court has called for curbing with a heavy hand the increasing tendency of indulging in such activity.

The assertion and the call by Justice MS Sullar came on a petition filed by Adarsh Singh against the State of Punjab. He was seeking anticipatory bail in a case registered against him and a co-accused by the Amritsar police on April 24 last year for allegedly outraging the modesty of a woman and other offences under the Indian Penal Code and Information Technology Act, 2000.

The prosecution had claimed that the petitioner had sent vulgar messages to a woman and her relatives for extortion and had blackmailed her by "projecting and displaying her objectionable photographs on the Internet".

As the petition came up for hearing before Justice Sullar, the state counsel produced on record the copies of vulgar messages, notes, abuses and objectionable photographs.

Taking up the matter, Justice Sullar observed: "The abuses and messages sent by the accused to the complainant are so vulgar that it is very difficult to describe them in black and white and have been kept in a sealed cover.

"The crux of vulgar messages and photographs is indicative of the fact that the accused has blackmailed and threatened the complainant with dire consequences, which tantamount to outrage of her honour.

"Perhaps, it cannot possibly be denied that the tendency and frequency of sending such vulgar messages and projecting the objectionable photographs on the Internet of innocent young girls by such accused have been increasing day by day, ruining the social fabric of our society, which needs to be curbed with a heavy hand." Turning down the plea, Justice Sullar added: "Specific and direct allegations of commission of grave and heinous offences, outraging the honour of a young girl are attributed to the petitioner and he is not entitled to the concession of pre-arrest bail.

"Taking into consideration the direct and specific allegations of indicated grave and heinous crime, to my mind, the custodial interrogation of the petitioner is essential in this relevant connection.

"In case he is allowed the concession of pre-arrest bail, the police will be deprived from ascertaining the source of the scam, recovery of mobile phone, messages, recordings, other case property and effective investigation. It will adversely affect and weaken the case of the prosecution, which to my mind, is not legally permissible."

• A case was registered against petitioner Adarsh Singh and a co-accused by the Amritsar police on April 24 last year
• The two were charged with outraging the modesty of a woman and other offences under the IPC and the Information Technology Act, 2000
• The prosecution had claimed that the petitioner had sent vulgar messages to a woman and her relatives for extortion
• That he had blackmailed her by ‘displaying her objectionable photographs on the Internet’
• The High Court turned down his plea for anticipatory bail, saying this would deprive the police the chance to ascertain the source of the scam