Irked With Release Posters, Supreme Court Cancels Bail To Student Leader In Rape Case

The Supreme Court Thursday cancelled the bail granted to a student leader in Madhya Pradesh, whose banners were put up in the local area celebrating his release in a rape case. The court has asked Shubhang Gontia to surrender within a week.

A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice NV Ramana took into account the accused's brazen conduct when he was out on bail. A bunch of posters and hoardings reading "Bhaiya is back" had irked the Supreme Court.

The woman from Madhya Pradesh had approached the top court challenging the bail, contending the accused had repeatedly raped her on a false promise of marriage and forced her to abort a child.

Gontia, is a leader of ABVP, the student wing of the BJP's ideological mentor Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. The information about the posters was part of the woman's petition against the bail.

The court said that even if it is assumed that the posters in question were not contemporaneous to his release from detention, the captions tagged to his photographs on the social media highlight the superior position and power wielded by him and his family in the society and its deleterious impact on the appellant/complainant.

"The emojis of crowns and hearts tagged with the captions quoted above are devoid of any religious sentiments sought to be portrayed by respondent No.2 (accused). On the other hand, they amplify the celebratory mood of the respondent No.2 and his supporters on his having been released from detention in less than two months of being taken into custody for a grave offence that entails a sentence of not less than ten years that may even extend to life.

"The brazen conduct of the respondent No.2 has evoked a bona fide fear in the mind of the appellant/complainant that she would not get a free and fair trial if he remains enlarged on bail and that there is a likelihood of his influencing the material witnesses," the bench said.