Kerala High Court Eases Bail Conditions Imposed On Rapper Vedan In Sexual Harassment Case, Paves Way For International Tour

Justice C. Pratheep Kumar deleted the conditions requiring the rapper to not leave Kerala and to appear before the Investigating Officer on every Sunday.

Vedan is however required to intimate the IO in advance, of his plans to leave the country.

With this, the High Court paved way for the rapper's upcoming international tour with concerts lined up in Dubai, Qatar, France and Germany between November 23 to December 20.

The Court in its order recorded, "According to the learned Public Prosecutor, in case the conditions Nos. 3 and 5 are lifted, direction is to be given to the petitioner to report before the IO as and when required and also that in case he leaves India, the same has to be reported to the Investigating Officer, intimated in advance. In the light of the above submission, petition is disposed of as follows: 1. Condition No. 3 and 5 are deleted....2. The petitioner shall report before the IO as and when called for with prior notice..."

The prosecution has alleged that in December 2022, the petitioner–officially known as Hirandas–took the de facto complainant, who was a research scholar in Dalit Music, into his flat under the guise of listening to music. Once inside the room, the petitioner started speaking in a sexually explicit manner and attempted to sexually harass her. He even caught hold of her forcefully and kissed her when she tried to escape.

An FIR was registered against the petitioner at the Ernakulam Central Police station for the offences under Sections 294(b) [Obscene acts and songs], 354 [Assault of criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty] and 354A(1)(i) [Sexual harassment] of the Indian Penal Code. Thereupon, he preferred a plea for pre-arrest bail before the District and Sessions Court which was allowed on certain conditions.

Vedan had challenged two of the bail conditions, namely, conditions Nos. 3 and 5. According to condition No. 5, the petitioner cannot leave Kerala without prior permission of the Court. Moreover, as per condition no. 3, he is directed to appear before the investigating officer on every Sunday between 10:00 am and 11:00 am.

Though he preferred an application before the Sessions Court to delete condition no. 5, it only modified the condition to the extent permitting him to leave Kerala from September 23 to October 23.

When the case came up for consideration, the High Court asked the rapper why he wanted to go out of Kerala. The Court was informed that he had to attend stage shows. The Court then noted that for the past one and a half months, Vedan had been complying with conditions and reporting before the police.

The Court had orally asked, "If this condition No. 5 not to leave Kerala is lifted, whether permission would be required to leave India?" At this juncture, the public prosecutor had submitted that prior intimation has to be given to the investigating officer before leaving India.

The petition was moved by Advocates C. Dheeraj Rajan, Anand Kalyanakrishnan and Libin Varghese.

Case No: Crl.M.C. No. 9448 of 2025

Case Title: Hirandas V.M. v. State of Kerala

Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (Ker) 684