Judge Seeraj Desai, accused of the alleged rape of a South African woman in India, was granted bail of R1Â 500 on Friday, said Foreign Affairs spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa.
Mamoepa said: ”It is anticipated that the judge’s passport will be returned to him by authorities later this afternoon [Friday]. He will then be able to return to South Africa.”
AFP reported Bombay Sessions Court Judge ML Pahaliyani released Sirajuddin Desai on bail after a brief hearing.
AFP confirmed Desai’s passport had been returned.
Pahaliyani said: ”Looking at the whole sequence and the police report, it appears that the possibility that the complainant is part of the act voluntarily cannot be ruled out.”
AFP said Desai was not present in court for the hearing.
Mamoepa said it was not yet known what would happen to the charges laid against the judge. Salome Isaacs, the woman who accused Desai of raping her, withdrew the charge on Thursday.
In a statement signed by Isaacs and her husband Mark, she said: ”I hereby wish unconditionally to withdraw the allegation of rape against Mr Siraj Desai.”
Gabriela Palacios of Sihlali Molefe Incorporated — Isaacs’s lawyers — said this did not mean Isaacs was saying the rape did not happen.
”She still sticks by her story of the events of that night. Nowhere does she mention the details of complaint are untrue,” she said.
Desai was arrested by Indian police on Monday after Isaacs (26), a South African Aids activist, told police the judge raped her in his hotel room when she went to meet him at 3am on Sunday to discuss the next day’s events at the World Social Forum being held in Mumbai. — Sapa
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