Rohit Chandel is out on bail. The actor, who was shooting for Star Plus show Sairaab when he was arrested, walked free after a Mumbai Sessions Court granted him relief in a POCSO case filed by a 16-year-old girl.

Special Judge Shashikala S Nagur passed the order after Chandel's counsel, advocate Saveen Bedi Sachar, told the court that the chargesheet had already been filed and the investigation was complete, according to India Today. That argument, that there was nothing left for the police to probe, appears to have swung the decision.

The bail comes with conditions that leave little room. Chandel has been released on a P.R. Bond of Rs 50,000 along with a surety of the same amount. He cannot contact the complainant or her family, not by phone, not through social media, not through any indirect channel. The court has also barred him from threatening or influencing the victim, prosecution witnesses, or anyone else connected to the case in a way that stops them from telling the truth to the court.

The case itself dates back to a complaint that accused Chandel of stalking, harassment and physical assault. The 16-year-old alleged he contacted her repeatedly from multiple numbers despite her objections, followed her around, and abused and assaulted her near her home. Mumbai Police registered an FIR under the POCSO Act along with Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita provisions covering stalking and hurt. He was picked up from his residence and sent to judicial custody while the Special POCSO Court in Mumbai oversaw the case.

These are allegations that a chargesheet has now formalised, not a verdict. The trial, whenever it begins, will decide guilt.

What the arrest did settle, immediately, was Chandel's spot on Sairaab. The makers didn't wait around. Krishna Kaul stepped into the role Chandel was playing, and the show moved on without him. Whether Chandel gets a route back onto the show, or into television work at all while the case is pending, is not something anyone connected to the production has addressed.

For now the bail order is procedural, not a comment on innocence or otherwise. The chargesheet is filed, the conditions are strict, and the next real marker in this story is whatever the trial court does once proceedings actually begin.