A court in the Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir dismissed the bail application of a man who is charged with the rape of a 70-year-old tourist from Maharashtra. Rejecting the bail application, the court made a strong comment on society's moral fabric and remarked that the incident is indicative of the "depravity and sick mentality" prevailing in society.
Principal Sessions Judge Anantnag, Tahir Khurshid Raina, denied the bail plea of the accused, Zubair Ahmad from Ganeshbal Pahalgam. The incident allegedly took place at a hotel in the popular tourist resort town of Pahalgam in the south Kashmir district in which the woman had been residing along with her family in April.
The accused illegally entered the septuagenarian woman's hotel room when she was alone, gagged her mouth with a blanket, raped her, caused injuries and escaped through the window.
The assault was so severe that the victim could not sit and move and was in pain for several days.
However, the accused also moved for bail in his counsel's name, claiming false implication and prejudice on the part of the police based on personal vendetta.
The accused further contended that no test identification parade had been carried out and that he was also assisting the investigation.
The judge observed during the ongoing investigation, the going through of the case diary file (CF) prima facie discloses the commission of offence of rape on a senior citizen lady in a most dastardly way.
"This is what she has brought from the Pahalgam for the rest of her life where she had gone to experience the beauty of Kashmir," the Judge observed.
He asserted that the medical opinion, the forensic reports and the statement of the victim prima facie substantiate the accusations of rape and negates the basis of grant of bail made by the accused.
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"I find none of the grounds urged in the application and submissions made by the counsel for the accused to sway the judicial mind of this court to label the detention of the accused as legally untenable and unjustified at this juncture of the investigation, which is even now yet to mature into a charge sheet," said the court while turning down the bail application.
It termed the act as not a solitary incident to be overlooked, but one that reflects highest order of depravity and unhealthy mentality that grips the society, and needs to bend its head in shame and calls for a serious introspection why it was all about, and how it has now crumbled.
The head of the sessions court voiced its dismay over the episode saying that it is very unfortunate, reprehensible by all means and words, and should have shaken the conscience of this society — which bases its roots to rich moral values and culture — but is now shaken to the very top.
"A distinguished visitor, who was an elderly lady, being on her sojourn in this land of saints and prophets, was treated so poorly and surprisingly that for all the future times to come, she will have regret over the place choice she made to spend part of her old age days with her children," the court ruled.
The judge's concern regarding declining moral compass of society, and the demand for introspection:
"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," Raina noted.
"Mere meadows, mountains, green fields, forests, springs, rivers, rivulets and gardens alone will not rescue Kashmir as a sought-after tourist destination," the judge said.
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