New DelhiA bench of justice Saurabh Banerjee directed the teacher to surrender in three days before the jurisdictional sessions judge. (Representative photo)The Delhi High Court on Wednesday cancelled the bail granted to a woman teacher in connection with the alleged rape of a three-year-old girl at a private school in Janakpuri.A bench of justice Saurabh Banerjee directed the teacher to surrender in three days before the jurisdictional sessions judge.“This Court finds that, despite thereto, the learned Trial Court has gone onto to primarily proceed to grant regular bail to the respondent on the premise merely because the victim failed to disclose the name of the respondent in the complaint and which only surfaced in her statement under Section 183 of the BNSS. The victim has not only disclosed the name of the respondent but also identified her later at the time of video-recorded identification proceedings,” the court said.It added, “Thus, in the considered opinion of this Court, the learned Trial Court erred in completely ignoring the crucial fact that the victim had not only identified the respondent herein in the presence of the complainant/ her mother but also the very spot where the incident took place.”In his 11-page judgment, justice Banerjee also noted that the trial court had granted bail to the accused within six days of her arrest.The judge observed that the trial court failed to consider that she had been a teacher at the school where the alleged incident occurred for 13 years and occupied a position of influence, which could give rise to the likelihood of tampering with evidence or influencing witnesses, thereby affecting the outcome of the case. “Moreover, when the proceedings currently are at a nascent stage which have also been given a go-bye by the learned Trial Court,” the order said.The order was passed in an appeal preferred by the Delhi Police against trial court’s order May 20 order, granting bail to the teacher, following her arrest on May 14.The complaint was lodged by the child’s mother at Janakpuri police station, alleging that her daughter was sexually assaulted during school hours on April 30, the second day after her admission to the school.Police said the child complained of pain after returning home and later told her mother that she had been taken to an isolated area inside the school where the accused allegedly assaulted her. It registered a case under Section 64 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita pertaining to rape of minors and Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.The police first arrested a 57-year-old staffer, who was granted bail by the trial court on May 7. His bail was subsequently cancelled by the high court on June 29.The Delhi Police, represented by additional solicitor general SV Raju, contended that the trial court had erred in granting bail by overlooking the nature and gravity of the alleged offences and the specific role attributed to the accused woman. It argued that the trial court granted bail in a mechanical manner and effectively conducted a mini-trial at the bail stage by assessing the credibility of the victim’s statement and entertaining an unsubstantiated allegation that the victim had been tutored by her mother, the complainant, despite there being no material on record to support such a claim.The woman’s lawyer, senior advocate KK Manan, opposed the petition, asserting that the trial court rightly granted bail to her as she was falsely implicated and had no connection to the incident. He submitted that his client had been serving as a teacher at the school for the past 13 years with no criminal antecedents. He further argued that the victim’s medical examination did not reveal any fresh injury or other physical findings consistent with the allegations made in the complaint.