High Court rejects bail of teacher convicted in rape case

Srinagar, May 15

The Jammu and Kashmir High Court has rejected the bail plea of a convict in a rape case who has already served more than half the period of his seven-year imprisonment.

“The circumstances of the case do not per se make out a case for grant of bail to the appellant though the appellant has undergone one-half of the sentence awarded by the trial court,” Justice Puneet Gupta said in his orders while rejecting the bail plea of Jarnail Singh, a schoolteacher from Jammu, who was accused of raping his minor student.

“The victim was minor, aged about 13/14 years at the time of occurrence. The relationship between the victim and the appellant was sacrosanct and the same was shattered by the appellant and this aspect cannot be ignored,” the HC observed in its judgement.

Jarnail Singh, had approached the HC with a bail plea on the ground that he has undergone sentence for two years and nine and a half months and further that there is no possibility of hearing of the criminal appeal in the near future. — TNS