Opinion: Guwahati IIT Rape Case, How can a Rapist be a Future Asset?
High Court grants bail to the prima facie accused in Guwahati IIT Rape Case
Can a prima facie accused of rape charges be an asset? Can the possibility of the accused being guilty not enough to hold the allegations? Well, the High court’s recent act of granting bail to the prima facie accused in the Guwahati IIT Rape Case gives this impression.
Guwahati IIT Rape Case, why High Court Granted bail to the accused?
Guwahati High Court on identifying the accused of Guwahati IIT Rape Case as a “bright, youthful student and a future asset to the state” of the state of Assam releases a rape accused on bail. The accused is an IIT B.Tech student accused of sexually abusing a fellow student. The complaint was logged on 28th March 2021.
Hearing a bail plea from the BTech student, Justice Ajit Borthakur told Bar and Bench that the accused has a “clear prima facie case” However because the inquiry is complete, he has “no chance” of influencing witnesses or tampering with evidence.
The complainant is 19 years old and comes from a different state.
Justice Ajit Borthakur noted that a clear prima facie case exists in the IIT Guwahati rape incident, but gave bail to the accused because the investigation is complete & the accused, a "talented" IIT student, and the assault survivor are "the state's future assets". pic.twitter.com/iXigTDo4Wt
— santhoshd (@santhoshd) August 24, 2021
“However, because the investigation in the case is complete and both the informant/victim girl and the accused are the State’s future assets as talented students pursuing technical courses at IIT Guwahati and are young in the age group of 19 to 21 years and hail from two different States, continued detention of the accused may not be necessary,” the court stated. The accused is granted bail despite vehement objections by the opposition.
A timeline of the case
On March 28 2021: The IIT Guwahati student was accused of rape. The 21-year-old student was detained on April 3 for allegedly “sexually abusing” a female student at the institute. The IIT officials subsequently placed him on leave and he was charged for rape under section 328 (causing bodily harm by poison), 307 (attempt to kill), and 120B (criminal conspiracy) under the Indian Penal Code.
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August 13: The court stated in its decision that because both the accused and the survivor are young and “promising students pursuing technical degrees at the IIT, Guwahati,” taking the accused under custody may not be necessary if charges are filed.
The survivor is a 19-year-old. In an interview with East Mojo, she said that she expects justice as soon as possible and hopes for the guilty to be punished without delay.
Rape as a crime
A crime like rape is one of the most heinous crimes. It’s not just an offence. It’s not just indecent. It is low, on every social, cultural, moral, institutional, constitutional, behavioural ground. A person, irrespective of how beneficial they can be, they are simply less of a human, less of a human resource, less of a person who could do any good to society.
What assets can a rapist bring to the state, to the nation? And what is the state preference, meeting the materialistic goals only? Trivializing the harm done to a rape survivor?
