Indian businessman accused of raping woman on flight refused bail

An Indian businessman accused of raping a woman he was seated next to on a flight from Singapore to Perth earlier this week has been denied bail.

Sudhir Kumar Chauhan, 52, was arrested on arrival at Perth Airport on Monday and charged with one count of sexual intercourse without consent and three counts of indecent assault over the alleged incident on Scoot Airlines flight TR16.

He faced Perth Magistrates Court on Friday where prosecutors told the court Chauhan, who was on a business trip from Mumbai, was in the aisle seat while his alleged victim was in the middle seat of a row of three, with another passenger unknown to both of them in the window seat.

The court heard Chauhan allegedly believed the woman was asleep and used a blanket to cover his hand and the woman’s lap while he assaulted her for more than 10 minutes, The West Australian reported.

Prosecutors told the court the alleged attack stopped when a cabin crew member walked past or the woman made it clear she was awake, and said if not for that the alleged offending would have continued.

In his bail application Chauhan’s lawyer told the court an eight-bedroom Airbnb had been secured for his client for three months, and proposed a 7am to 8pm curfew as well as passport surrender and a ban on leaving Western Australia.

But prosecutors argued that as strangers could book other rooms in the proposed Airbnb at the same time, and there were shared areas, there was a risk of further offending in light of the allegations Chauhan assaulted his victim when he thought she was asleep.

The magistrate refused bail, telling the court the proposed living arrangement was “too uncertain and too obscure”, and calling all four allegations “incredibly serious”.

He described the Airbnb as “highly unsuitable”, and said the proposed curfew would allow Chauhan to move around the state during the day without supervision.

Chauhan was remanded in custody, and will face court again on July 10 by videolink from Hakea Prison.

Header image: A Scoot Airlines plane in Australian (Simon_sees from Australia, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons).

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