High court stays arrest of cricketer Yash Dayal in alleged sexual exploitation case

The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday (July 15) stayed cricketer Yash Dayal's arrest in relation to an FIR against him for allegedly sexually exploiting a woman. A bench of Justices Siddhartha Varma and Anil Kumar issued the order on Dayal's petition questioning the FIR. Staying his arrest, the court directed state counsel to file a counter affidavit and also issued notices to the complainant to file her counter in the case.

The FIR of 27-year-old Dayal, who plays for Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the IPL was lodged on July 6 at the Indirapuram police station in Ghaziabad district under Section 69 (Sexual intercourse by making false promises etc.) of the BNS. Dayal is accused of sexually exploiting a woman with the pretext of marriage.

The lawyer for the petitioner argued that one can be charged with an offence under Section 69 of BNS only when it is proved that he promise to marry to a woman without intending to marry her. He contended that despite a bare reading of the facts stated in the FIR shows that the informant was in relationship with the petitioner for the last five years.

She remained silent for a very long time and as when the petitioner was chosen in the Indian cricket team, the FIR with an oblique motive was filed for extorting harsh and arbitrary demands, the counsel added. He added the petitioner in the course of the relationship had supplied monetary support to the informant.

In her FIR under Section 69 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the woman accused Dayal, with whom she said she had a "five-year relationship," of duping her "emotionally, mentally, and physically in lieu of marriage. The complainant, in her FIR, alleged that she was "in a relationship with cricketer Yash Dayal for the past five years." According to her, Dayal "repeatedly made false promises of marriage" and "formed physical relations under that pretext." She went on to add that Dayal got her meet his family, who accepted her as a "daughter-in-law, thus making her trust stronger."

The complainant said that when she asked Dayal about his supposed deceit and affairs with other women, she was physically abused and manipulated. Feeling lonely and heartbroken, she allegedly called the women's helpline 181 but claimed that her case did not move forward at the police station level so she forwarded the case to the office of the Chief Minister.