‘Not easy to force a tattoo’: HC grants bail to rape accused

NEW DELHI: The Delhi high court on Friday granted bail to a man accused of accused of raping a woman, on the grounds that his name was tattooed on her forearm and that “it is not easy to make the art if there is resistance from the other side.”

While the woman had alleged that the accused forcibly tattooed his name on the woman’s arm, the court said it is not an “easy job to make a tattoo”.

“In my opinion, making tattoos is an art and a special machine is required for the same. Moreover, it is also not easy to make such a tattoo which is on the forearm of the complainant if there is some resistance from the other side,” justice Rajnish Bhatnagar said in the judgment.

“It is not everybody’s job and it is also not the case of the prosecutrix that the petitioner had anything to do with the tattoo business,” the court said in its judgment.

The woman alleged that the accused forced her to have physical relations with him by threatening and blackmailing her. She asserted that physical relations continued from 2016 till 2019.

The accused said the complainant, who was married, loved him and claimed they were in a consensual relationship. He said the FIR was registered only after she failed to convince him to maintain the ties.

He also showed the photos of the tattoo on the woman’s arm and said she clicked selfies with him, exchanged garlands, attended festivities, and sent a him a Facebook friend request.