Bengaluru, May 31 -- The Karnataka High Court has granted anticipatory bail to the mother of the prime accused in a case involving allegations of rape, harassment and forced religious conversion. The order was passed by a vacation single-judge bench headed by Justice R Nataraj while hearing a petition filed by the accused's mother seeking protection from arrest.

The court observed that the petitioner was merely the mother of the first accused and that no direct role of hers in the alleged offences had been established at this stage of the investigation. The bench further noted that the offences alleged against her do not attract punishment of death or life imprisonment.

Justice Nataraj remarked that the petitioner's involvement in the a...