Principal Sessions Judge of Anantnag Tahir Khurshid Raina has rejected the bail application of one Zubair Ahmad Bhat who has been accused of raping a 70-year-old tourist from Maharashtra in the Pahalgam area. He expressed grave concern over the nature of the alleged offence and its impact on society. The alleged incident had apparently taken place in the month of April before the Pahalgam massacre of April 22 when tourists were visiting the Kashmir valley in large numbers.
According to sketchy details available regarding the case, the alleged sexual assault of a 70-year old widow was committed by the alleged depraved man reportedly younger than her son. The victim, who was visiting Pahalgam with her family, was allegedly attacked in her hotel room when she was alone. The accused is said to have entered the room, gagged the victim, raped her, inflicted injuries and fled through the window.
It is not clear as to how long the accused was on the run and managed to evade arrest by the police. It is also not known as to since when the accused has been in custody and as to how the case remained unreported in any of the newspapers so far. It is fairly common for the police to share some details of most rape cases with reporters, particularly after the arrest of the accused.
The case came to light only now after the judge denied bail to the accused and passed scathing remarks about the episode. In his order, the judge said: “There is absolutely no denial to the recognized principle of ‘bail not jail’. However, in my humble appreciation of the principle, the same is to be recognized, regarded and applied while also considering a catena of other factors, which have been emphasized in umpteen judgments of the Supreme Court to be considered by criminal courts when deciding bail applications.’’
The gravity and severity of the offence; the severity of the punishment prescribed for the alleged offence; level of accusation; stage of investigation/trial; potential/tendency of the accused to flee from investigation/trial are factors to be weighed, the judge said. The potential of the accused to hamper and temper with the evidence/investigation; and last but not the least, the impact of the offence on society and the consequences to follow in case bail is granted to the accused are also to be considered, he added.
The case involves the alleged sexual assault of a 70-year old widow tourist by a man reportedly younger than her own son. The victim, who was visiting Pahalgam with her family, was allegedly attacked in her hotel room when she was alone. The accused is said to have entered the room, gagged the victim, raped her, inflicted injuries and fled through the window.
Stating that ‘bail not jail’ principle cannot be blindly followed at the cost of ignoring all these factors, the Principal Sessions Judge said, “I don’t find any of the ground pleaded in the application and arguments advanced by the counsel for the accused to influence the judicial conscious of this court to describe the incarceration of the accused as legally unsustainable and unwarranted at this stage of the investigation, which is even yet to culminate into charge sheet”.
“Keeping in view the whole gamut of the case in the backdrop of the factors to be applied to weigh the sustainability of the prayer for grant of bail, this court does not legally reconcile with the prayer for bail at this stage, which is accordingly rejected,” the judge said.
“The alleged incident is highly unfortunate, condemnable by all possible words and ought to have jolted the conscious of this society, which claims its moorings to be based on rich ethical values and culture, but now stands shaken to the hilt,” the court said, adding “a revered guest, who was on her visit to the land of saints and seers, was treated so shabbily and shockingly that for all times to come, she will have remorse over the choice of place she made to spend a period of her old age days with her children”.
“It is not an isolated act to be ignored, but a reflection of a highest degree of depravity and sick mentality prevailing in the society, which must bow its head down in shame and invites a serious introspection as to what it stood for, and how that has now collapsed,” the judgement reads. “This court, which every day witnesses the reflection of the probity level of this society, expresses its concern that it is hopelessly getting eroded on various fronts. No sooner the sheet-anchors, conscious keepers, watch dogs, and philanthropists of this society will rise to the occasion to check what is going wrong on the moral front of the society, the better will be for saving the Kashmir as the paradise on earth in its true sense.’’
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