Dispose of accused’s appeal in five months, SC tells HC

However, the third convict Vikas Garg, who was handed a seven-year jail term, will continue to be out on bail.

The victim, a junior management student at OP Jindal Global University at the time of the incident, approached the SC, challenging the Punjab & Haryana HC order that did not just grant bail to the three convicts, but also suspended their sentences.

On appeal by the trio, the HC in September last year suspended their sentence on the grounds that the woman was “promiscuous” and had “casual sexual escapades” and directed Sikri and Chhabra to be released on bail. Garg was already out on bail. Following the victim’s petition, the SC cancelled the high court order and directed the two convicts back to jail.

During the hearing in the SC, the victim also expressed the fear and possibility of blackmail by the convicts as they still had her photographs on their iCloud.

Last week, the court ordered the students to share the iCloud password of their laptops with the victim so that her pictures were not circulated over the internet. Justice Bobde had remarked, “We find it difficult to accept and tolerate the continuing blackmail of the victim.”

On Thursday, senior advocate Shanti Bhushan told the SC that Sikri did not remember the password as he has been in jail for more than two years and not accessed iCloud in this time.