NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday stayed an order asking a rape accused’s wife, employed in the US, to remain in India as a “collateral” if he wished to travel abroad for a job.A bench of Justices Sanjay Kumar and Satish Chandra Sharma issued notice to the Rajasthan government in the matter on the appeal filed by a software engineer, accused of raping a woman on the promise of marriage.The top court further directed the man to deposit Rs 2 lakh as surety for foreign travel.Advocate Ashwani Dubey, appearing for the engineer, submitted that the wife was neither an accused nor a party to the case.He said no notice was issued by the Rajasthan High Court and yet it passed an order restraining the petitioner.”The wife, who is neither accused nor heard, is restrained from travelling abroad, purely to offset a hypothetical apprehension that the husband will abscond,” Dubey argued.The plea said the high court, in a clear violation of the “procedural impropriety” and without hearing or impleading his wife, who is currently employed in the US, and ignoring the fact that she was not a part of the criminal case, directed her to remain in India.It was further argued that the high court direction was “erroneous” and violative of the fundamental rights under Article 21 of the Constitution.
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