The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted shaadi.com
founder Anupam Mittal and two others protection from arrest for two weeks in a
case related to alleged fraud by a user of the matrimonial platform.
A bench of Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and N V
Anjaria set aside a Telangana High Court order refusing to quash the
proceedings against Mittal and sent the matter back to the high court for fresh
consideration. The apex court also asked Mittal to approach the high court for
interim bail.
The case stems from a Hyderabad woman's allegation
that she was defrauded of ?11 lakh by a man who used a fake profile on
shaadi.com and that the platform failed to properly verify user details.
"Since the quashing petition has not been
decided on merits, we set aside the impugned order and remit the matter to the
high court to consideration on merits. Accordingly the criminal cases are
restored to their original file. The same shall be dealt with by the high court
on its merits. This court has not expressed any opinion on merits," the
Supreme Court said.
"In the meanwhile, petitioner shall make a
prayer for interim relief before the high court. For a period of eight weeks
from today, no coercive steps to be taken against the petitioner," it
added.
Senior advocate Atmaram Nadkarni, appearing for
Mittal, submitted that he was running a matrimonial site, which is basically
just a matchmaker.
"I am just facilitating matching. We are
cooperating with the investigation. But why am I an accused?" Nadkarni
asked.
On June 26, the top court had issued notice to the
Telangana government and stayed all proceedings.
The Telangana High Court last year declined to quash
the FIR registered against Mittal and two others, Vignesh and Satish, named as
accused in the case.