Observing that rape is a crime against entire society, a local court here declined bail to a person accused of abetting the criminal act.
After hearing additional public prosecutor Abdur Rashid Mir and defence counsel, the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Srinagar presided over by Gowhar Majid Dalal said that allegations against the accused are grave, heinous and serious in nature.
The court said that accused seeking bail has “accompanied the main accused in the kidnapping and provided him his own vehicle in the commission of heinous crime”.
If the accused had not provided or facilitated the vehicle, there would not have been commission of offence, the court said, adding that the accused thus cannot exonerate himself from the criminal liability at this stage in view of the evidence on file against him.
“Kidnapping and committing rape is not only a crime against the person of a woman (victim), it is a crime against entire society,” the court observed.
The court said that offence of rape destroys the entire psychology of a woman and pushes her into deep emotional crises.
“Kidnapping and committing rape upon her is therefore the most hatred crime. In the present case, one of the accused is alleged to have kidnapped a girl and committed rape upon her whereas the present accused has facilitated the crime of kidnapping and rape,” the court observed.
It further observed the investigation is at infancy stage and enlarging accused on bail at this stage will definitely hamper the process of investigation and there may arise chances of threat to the victim by the accused.
“There is prima facie involvement of the present accused in the commission of serious and heinous offence. I deem it proper to disallow the application on behalf of the accused, application is accordingly disallowed,” the court said.
Earlier, prosecution vehemently opposed the bail application and submitted before the court that the accused is involved in the commission of non-bailable and heinous offences, as such, cannot claim bail as a matter of right.