Allahabad High Court denies anticipatory bail to teacher accused of raping mentally challenged girl

The Allahabad High Court recently denied anticipatory bail to a teacher accused of raping a 14-year-old girl who was mentally challenged. [Deepak Prakash Singh v State].Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav dismissed the anticipatory bail application after considering the serious nature of the case. "A Teacher plays a very important role in shaping the future of their students and such conduct of the teacher would certainly create an atmosphere of fear in the minds of people of society and such perpetrator should not go unpunished and should get just punishment from the Courts of law to curb such incidents in future," the Court observed.The matter involved allegations that the accused, who was said to be a teacher by profession, had raped a minor victim from a scheduled caste..According to the first information report (FIR), the accused allegedly molested the minor victim on July 26 this year.The informant (complainant) and his daughter (victim) were grazing goats in the neighborhood on the said day. Later, he sent his daughter home to fetch water. However, while she was alone, the accused is said to have called on her and dragged her inside the house before molesting her. The FIR filed against the accused cited the charges of rape, apart from offences under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO Act) and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. .The accused maintained that he was falsely implicated since there were rivalries and a pending civil case between the complainant and him (accused). His lawyer further contended that the FIR was filed after an unexplained delay and that it contained inconsistencies.It was also argued that the accused did not have any prior criminal record and that there was no substantial evidence linking him to the alleged crime while pressing for the grant of pre-arrest bail..The State government opposed the prayer for anticipatory bail. .The Court noted that the victim, a mentally challenged girl, was only 14 years old at the time of the incident, which the judge termed as a "heinous crime."The Court also took note of the government counsel's submission that while the medical report did not confirm the rape, the determination of rape was a legal conclusion and not a medical one. The Court added that the absence of injuries on the victim's private parts or other parts of her body did not eliminate the possibility of her having been raped. .The Court proceeded to reject the bail plea, after considering the gravity of the allegations, the medical report and the role assigned to the bail applicant (accused) by the prosecution in the alleged crime. Advocate Arun Kumar Tripathi appeared for applicant (accused). Government Advocate Babu Lal Ram and Advocate Gyanendra Kumar appeared for the opposite parties..[Read Order]