The Supreme Court has set aside the bail of three persons, including the son of a Rajasthan MLA, for alleged gang rape of a minor Dalit girl, threatening to make videos viral and blackmailing the family, saying the offence alleged is heinous and quoting an ancient Sanskrit verse that says “where women are respected, Gods live there”.

“The offence alleged in the instant case is heinous and would be an onslaught on the dignity of womanhood, and the age-old principle of ‘Where women are respected, Gods live there’ would recede to the background,” the bench of Justices S. Ravindra Bhat and Aravind Kumar said.

“...The guilty not being punished by process of law or accused persons are allowed to move around freely in the society or in spite of there being prima facie material being present they are allowed to move around freely in the society before guilt is proved and are likely to indulge in either threatening the prosecution witnesses or inducing them in any manner to jettison the criminal justice system, then the superior court will have to necessarily step in to undo the damage occasioned due to erroneous orders being passed by courts below,” it added.

The bench allowed the appeal filed by the minor girl’s family challenging the bail granted by Rajasthan High Court to Deepak, the MLa’s son, Vivek and Netram, all identified in the judgment by their first names.

The Rajasthan government had opposed the bail granted to Vivek and Netram, but supported the bail given to Deepak.

“The allegation made in the complaint relates to the gang rape of a minor girl who is aged 15 years, six months, studying in Class X. The fact of her father being a police constable who is far below in the hierarchy of service cannot be lost sight of.

“One of the respondents against whom allegations have been made is the son of a sitting... MLA. Yet another accused — Vivek — seems to have criminal antecedents, and the third accused is the manager of the hotel where the alleged incident of gang rape had occurred,” Justice Kumar said.