An Afghan national arrested for allegedly raping a Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student here has been denied bail by the Delhi High Court, which said there was every chance of him fleeing from justice.
The court dismissed the bail application of Sulaiman Ahmadi, who has been staying in India as a refugee for 10 years, considering the serious nature of the accusation against him and due to apprehension that he may tamper with or win over vital witnesses.
Vital witnesses
Besides, Justice Vinod Goel looked into the severity of punishment in case of conviction, which can be up to life term, and said there was “every likelihood of the petitioner, an Afghan national, absconding or fleeing from justice”.
The court said there was no ground in favour of the man to grant him bail as material witnesses, including those who were at the spot and to whom the woman had narrated the episode soon after the incident, were yet to be examined.
The bail plea was opposed by the prosecutor, who said there was a chance of the accused fleeing from justice if bail was granted as he was an Afghan national.
He said vital witnesses, including friends of the accused who were at the spot, were yet to be examined and one of them had seen the two accused enter the bedroom where the woman was sleeping alone.
According to the prosecution, Ahmadi and his friend Tawab Ahmad alias Saleem, also an Afghan national, allegedly raped the 21-year-old JNU student in south Delhi’s Green Park in January this year.
The court rejected the argument of Ahmadi’s counsel that he should be granted bail as forensic samples of body fluids found on the woman’s clothes had failed to match with those of the accused.
‘Corroborative evidence’
“It is trite that medical evidence is a corroborative piece of evidence but where medical evidence does not support the otherwise clinching and trustworthy ocular evidence of any material witness, then the testimony of such ocular evidence shall prevail on the medical opinion and not vice versa,” the judge said.
The prosecution had said the victim, a second-year student at JNU, had gone to a pub in Hauz Khas village with a friend where she met Saleem and he invited them to his house in Green Park for a party.
The prosecution had added that when she went to Saleem’s house along with her friend, three of Saleem’s friends, including Ahmadi, were already present. Eventually, her friend was dropped off at JNU. The woman told the police that she returned to Saleem’s home and they consumed alcohol.
When she woke up in the morning, Ahmadi was allegedly forcing himself on her, the police claimed, adding that the woman later discovered the duo had allegedly sexually assaulted her when she was not in her senses.
FIR lodged
She went back to her hostel in JNU and narrated the incident to her two friends, who immediately took her to a police station. A first information report (FIR) for the offence of rape and common intention was lodged at Safdarjung Enclave police station here.
Both the accused were arrested and sent to judicial custody by a trial court, which has been recording evidence in the case.
