Kerala High Court Grants Anticipatory Bail To MLA Rahul Mamkootathil In Rape & Miscarriage Case, Orders Him To Surrender His Phone

The Kerala High Court on Thursday (February 12) granted anticipatory bail to Palakkad MLA Rahul Mamkootathil in the first rape and miscarriage case alleged against him. Dr. Justice Kauser Edappagath pronounced in open court:"Bail application is allowed on the following conditions:The applicant shall appear before the investigating officer on 16.2.2026 at 10 am for interrogation. He shall surrender his mobile phone before the investigating officer on that day. The applicant can be interrogated for the next three days from 10 am to 4 pm everyday if required, after giving adequate intervals. The applicant shall be deemed to be under custody during the aforesaid period for facilitating the requirements of investigation, including to undergo medical examination or potency test. If the investigating officer intends to arrest the applicant, then he shall be released on bail on executing a bond Rs. 1 lakh...The applicant shall fully cooperate with the investigation, shall appear before the investigating officer on every second Saturday between 10 and 11 am, shall not commit any offence... He shall not attempt to contact the respondent or any of the prosecution witnesses. The applicant shall not leave the State of Kerala. He shall surrender his passport before the investigating officer..."The Court had heard detailed arguments from the counsel appearing for Mamkootathil, the de facto complainant and the Director General of Prosecution. It had then reserved its verdict.Mamkootathil is arrayed as the 1st accused in the crime registered by the Nemom Police and is accused of the offences under the Sections 64(2)(f), 64(2)(h), 64(2)(m) [Rape], 89 [Causing miscarriage without woman's consent], 115(2) [Voluntarily causing hurt], 351(3) [Criminal intimidation], 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Section 66(E) of the Information Technology Act [Punishment for violation of privacy].The prosecution allegation is that Mamkootathil subjected the complainant to forcible sexual intercourse and caused her to become pregnant, which he has criminally intimidated her to terminate. It is further alleged that he recorded private videos of her without her consent and used it to threaten her.He had moved the present anticipatory bail plea after the Sessions Court, Thiruvananthapuram had dismissed his application. Interestingly, the Sessions Court had granted pre-arrest bail to the co-accused of the MLA, who is alleged to have handed over the abortion pill to the de facto complainant.The bail application was moved by Advocates S. Rajeev, V. Vinay, M.S. Aneer, Sarath K.P., Anilkumar C.R., K.S. Kiran Krishnan, Dipa V., Akash Cherian Thomas, Azad Sunil, Maheswar P., T.P. Aravind, and Akshara S.Advocates V. John Sebastian Ralph, Vishnu Chandran, Ralph Reti John, Giridhar Krishna Kumar, Geethu T.A., Mary Greeshma, Liz Johny, Krishnapriya Sreekumar, Abhijith P.S., and Devika Manoj appeared for the de facto complainant.Director General of Prosecution T.A. Shaji appeared for the State.Case No: Bail Appl. 14427/2025Case Title: Rahul B.R. v. State of Kerala and Anr.Citation: 2026 LiveLaw (Ker) 94Click to Read/Download Order

Kerala High Court Grants Anticipatory Bail To MLA Rahul Mamkootathil In Rape & Miscarriage Case, Orders Him To Surrender His Phone

K. Salma Jennath

Tags