A shocking case of sexual assault has come to light in the tourist town of Pahalgam, where a 70-year-old woman from Maharashtra was allegedly raped inside a hotel room on 11 April 2025 – just days before the Pahalgam terror attack. The accused, identified as Zubair Ahmad Bhat, a resident of Pahalgam, is currently in judicial custody after his bail plea was rejected by a local court in Anantnag.
According to police reports, the victim, who was visiting Kashmir with her son’s family, was alone in her hotel room when the accused forcibly entered, gagged her with a blanket, and sexually assaulted her before fleeing. The assault left the elderly woman with severe injuries, causing her immense pain for several days.
The accused later sought bail, claiming that he was falsely implicated due to a personal grudge between his family and the police. However, the court dismissed his plea, citing the gravity of the crime.
Principal Sessions Judge Tahir Khurshid Raina delivered a scathing observation, calling the crime a reflection of “the highest degree of depravity and sick mentality prevailing in society.” Rejecting the Supreme Court’s principle that “bail is the rule, jail the exception,” the judge asserted that releasing the accused at this stage could jeopardize the investigation and set a dangerous precedent.
“A revered guest, a senior lady on her visit to this land of saints and seers, was treated so shabbily and shockingly that, for all times to come, she will have remorse over her choice of place to spend a period of her old age days with her children,” the court lamented.
“No sooner the sheet-anchors, conscious keepers, watch dogs, and philanthropists of this society will rise to the occasion to check what is going wrong on the moral front of the society, the better will be for saving the Kashmir as the paradise on earth in its true sense,” Justice Raina said.
“Mere meadows, mountains, lush green fields, forests, springs, rivers, rivulets and gardens will not come to the rescue of Kashmir as a desired tourist destination,” the judge remarked. He urged civil society and authorities to take strict action to prevent such incidents in the future.
The case, which occurred in April 2025, only gained media attention in July, raising questions about underreporting of crimes against tourists in the Kashmir valley.
(With inputs from Money Control)
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