The Gauhati High Court in a recent judgement regarding the IIT rape case granted bail to the accused because he was a 'talented student' making him a potential asset for the country.
The 21-year-old accused was arrested on 3 April after allegedly sexually harassing a female student on 28 April this year. Now, the court has granted this suspended student bail.
The reasoning behind his bail has drawn a lot of flak on Twitter, and users are not happy that the accused might get away with it only because he is apparently talented.
Hearing a bail application by the accused BTech student, Justice Ajit Borthakur said there is a clear prima facie case as alleged against the petitioner based on all the evidence.
"However, as the investigation in the case is completed and both the informant/victim girl and the accused are the state's future assets being talented students pursuing technical courses at the IIT, Guahati,...continuation of detention of the accused...if charges are framed, may not be necessary," the order said.
The court in its order on August 13 noted that both are young -- in the age group of 19 to 21 -- and further, they hailed from two different states.
"A perusal of the list of witnesses too, cited in the charge-sheet, this Court finds no possibility of the accused tampering with their evidence or influencing them directly or indirectly, if released on bail," it added.
Accordingly, the high court granted bail to the accused for ₹ 30,000 bond along with two sureties.
The court also said, "It is pertinent to be mentioned that it is judicially well settled that while dealing with a bail application, the Court is not called upon to discuss the merits or demerits of the evidence available against the accused, but, some reasons for prima facie concluding while bail is being granted need to be indicated in brief."
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Advocate Sumitra Sarma, appearing on behalf of the complainant, had argued against bail being allowed.