On June 11, 2013, the Bombay High Court (BHC) granted anticipatory bail to 47-year-old Dr Rustum Soonawala, accused of raping a 27-year-old patient in his Khar clinic on May 17. The Dadar based physician will have to provide a surety of one lakh rupees. According to The Indian Express (IE) of June 12, 2013, the BHC directed the police not to arrest Soonawala until a charge sheet is filed. The police can, however, take him into custody for 12 hours to conduct blood and semen tests if these are done in Bombay and for 24 hours if they are done outside the city, the BHC ruled.
The doctor had moved the BHC after a sessions court rejected his application to have the tests done before he was arrested. Aabad Ponda, his lawyer, told the BHC: "The commission of the offence of rape will be established if the medical tests are positive. Only an innocent man will agree to undergo such tests in a rape case.” The complainant’s lawyer, Mihir Desai, argued that Soonawala’s offer to get his blood and semen tested signified no generosity as it is mandatory for every rape accused to undergo the tests. He also told the BHC that the accused had absconded and should not be granted anticipatory bail. Purnima Kantharia, additional public prosecutor maintained that Soonawala’s custody was required because he was influential and could tamper with the tests, IE reported. Ponda, however, submitted that Soonawala had reported to the Khar police station for about seven days for two to three hours each day.
Not satisfied with the prosecution’s arguments, Justice Roshan S. Dalvi ruled that it was not necessary for the police to keep Soonawala in custody to proceed with the investigation. A report in the Mumbai Mirror of June 12 mentioned that the BHC observed that the only thing that remained in the case for investigation was the medical tests, and for that custodial interrogation was not required.