Allahabad High Court Denies Bail To Doctor Accused Of Raping Dalit On-Duty Nurse At Midnight

A bench of Justice Nalin Kumar Srivastava, however, granted bail to the co-accused Mehnaz, a nurse, and Junaid, a ward boy, who allegedly assisted the prime accused (Doctor Shahnawaz) in committing the alleged offence.

“…insofar as the appellant Dr Shahnawaj is concerned, he is the principal offender, though he is in jail since 19.8.224 but no good ground is made out to enlarge him on bail at this stage…Insofar as accused appellants- Smt Mehnaz and Faizan are concerned, having regard to the facts and circumstances of the case and keeping in view the nature of the offence, evidence, complicity of the accused, severity of punishment, the Court is of the opinion that the appellants have made out a case for bail,” the bench remarked in its order.

As per the prosecution's case, the prime accused (Dr. Shahnawaz) called the nurse into his cabin around midnight, and when she refused to go there, she was forcibly escorted by two co-accused.

After she was forced inside the cabin, co-accused allegedly locked the door from outside, and the doctor allegedly raped the victim. Her mobile phone was also reportedly snatched away to ensure that she couldn't call anyone for help.

The bail pleas of all three accused, booked under Sections 61 (2), 64, 351 (2), 127 (2) BNS & Section 3(1)r, 3 (1)s, 3(2)v SC/ST Act, was earlier rejected by Special Judge (SC/ST Act), Moradabad.

Challenging the denial of bail, they had moved the HC wherein their counsels argued that they had been falsely implicated in this case.

Their counsels also argued that the CDR report and CCTV footage that the IO had collected also did not corroborate the prosecution's version in material terms.

It is further submitted that the pathology and lab reports also did not support the prosecution's case.

On the other hand, opposing their bail pleas, the counsel for the state argued that the appellants had committed the offence knowing that the victim belonged to a scheduled caste community.

Furthermore, it was submitted that the CCTV footage contained several incriminating views and the delay in lodging the FIR was justified as it was quite natural and probable for the victim to hesitate in this case to come forward to disclose the shameful incident, which might cause a dent in her image.