Ankeet Chavan with Neha Sambary

May 30: Whether the spot-fixing scandal wrecks Ankeet Chavan’s cricket career or not, it will not spoil his wedding plans.

The 27-year-old was today granted a week’s interim bail to marry after his fiancee’s family confirmed the wedding was on, the judge saying he didn’t want the bride-to-be to suffer.

“I’m very happy,” fiancée Neha Sambary, an MBA who works with a consultancy firm in Mumbai, told The Telegraph. The couple got engaged last July after what the cricketer’s family said was a four-year relationship.

A close relative of Chavan said Neha was “a strong girl” but had been “shattered” after her fiance’s arrest, particularly because of the “stigma”.

But today, “she jumped up and down after learning about Ankeet’s bail and hasn’t stopped blushing,” the relative said.

It was the bride-to-be that Delhi additional sessions judge Vinay Kumar Khanna cited as he explained his reasons for granting bail.

“By denying the accused (the chance) to solemnise his marriage which was already fixed, not only he but also the would-be bride and other relatives would suffer because of no fault of theirs,” Khanna said.

Since the court order was late reaching Tihar this evening, Chavan will be freed tomorrow morning. He will straightaway head to the airport to fly to Mumbai for the sangeet ceremony at Neha’s home the same day.

His bail expires four days after the wedding at a Bandra club.

Granting bail to an accused is not unheard of but is not common, legal experts said.

Today, the court witnessed a debate on whether marriage could be deemed a “fundamental right”, “human right” or “social right” before the judge brushed off the prosecution’s objections.

Chavan had approached the sessions court after a magistrate denied him bail. His petition argued that if the wedding didn’t take place, it would harm his and his fiancee’s reputation.

“Marriage is a sacrosanct occasion which comes once in a lifetime,” Chavan’s counsel Kishore Gaikwad argued.

Senior public prosecutor Rajiv Mohan objected that if Chavan were released, he would be likely to tamper with evidence. But the judge asked: “Is marriage not a fundamental right within the right to live in the Constitution?”

Mohan replied: “Marriage has not been brought within the fundamental right to live. It can be a social right but not a fundamental right.”

The court shot back: “If not fundamental, can it be called a human right?”

The prosecution would not agree to this, either. “We are not asking Chavan not to marry; they can postpone the marriage till the filing of the chargesheet,” Mohan said.

But Gaikwad cited how Delhi High Court had allowed politician D.P. Yadav’s son Vikas, serving a life term for the high-profile murder of Nitish Katara, to attend his sister’s wedding in 2009.

“My client has been charged with Section 420 (cheating) while Yadav is serving a life sentence for a graver crime. If he can be allowed, why not Ankeet?” the lawyer later told this newspaper.

An affidavit from Neha’s brother had earlier been placed in court along with a wedding card and other documents showing that bookings, purchases and other preparations for the marriage had already been made.

Judge Khanna granted bail against a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh and two like sureties after asking Chavan to surrender his passport.

Asked why a woman would agree to marry an accused till he is proved innocent, Delhi-based marriage and relationship counsellor Gitanjali Sharma cited how Maanyata had married actor Sanjay Dutt after his conviction in the Bombay blasts case.

“Most women who think they are in love would ask this question of themselves: ‘What if this had happened after marriage?’ They think this is the time to stand by their man,” Sharma said.

“We are so happy. We are eagerly waiting for him to come back to Mumbai tomorrow,” Chavan’s brother Nihar said.

Chavan was arrested with Rajasthan Royals team-mates S. Sreesanth and Ajit Chandila on May 16 and has been in Tihar since May 23.

His Facebook page is flooded with messages of support, ranging from “We know you are not guilty” to “Whatever be the result…We are friends and will be forever.”

Additional reporting by G.S. Mudur