'Depravity, Sick Mentality': 70-Year-Old Tourist From Maharashtra Gagged, Raped In Pahalgam, Anantnag Court Denies Bail To Accused

Anantnag: A court in Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag denied bail to a man accused of raping a 70-year-old tourist from Maharashtra. The court termed the incident a reflection of "depravity a "sick mentality" within society, reported PTI. The judge also highlighted the need to preserve moral values.

On Friday, Principal Sessions Judge Anantnag, Tahir Khurshid Raina, rejected the bail application of the accused, Zubair Ahmad from Ganeshbal Pahalgam. The tourist was allegedly raped at a hotel in Pahalgam on April 1 this year.

"This is what she has carried from the Pahalgam for the rest of her life where she had come to enjoy the beauty of Kashmir," the Judge noted. Rejecting the bail, the judge said that the medical opinion, forensic reports and the victim's statement prima facie support the allegations of rape, reported PTI.

"I do not find any of the ground pleaded in the application and arguments advanced by the counsel for the accused to influence the judicial conscience 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 a charge sheet," the court said.

"A revered guest, who was a senior lady, was on her visit to this 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," the court further stated.

As per reports, barged into the rape survivor's hotel room when she was alone, gagged her mouth with a blanket. He then allegedly raped her and fled from the spot through the window. After the sexual assault, he was not able to move and remained in pain for several days.

However, the accused claimed that he was falsely implicated and alleged bias on the part of the police due to personal enmity. He further argued that no test identification parade had been conducted.