High Court cancels bail to teacher in rape of 3-year-old girl in Delhi school

2 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Jul 16, 2026 12:51 AM IST

Noting that the trial court had granted bail to the teacher primarily on the ground that the child failed to disclose the teacher’s name in the complaint and only mentioned her name in the statement recorded before the magistrate.

Maintaining that the trial court erred by ignoring “crucial facts”, the Delhi High Court on Wednesday cancelled the bail granted to a school teacher in a case concerning the alleged rape of a three-year-old girl by a staff member inside a private school in West Delhi. It directed the woman to surrender within three days.

On June 29, the HC had also set aside the bail granted to the main accused, the caretaker of the school, in the case registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and asked him to surrender on July 1.

Justice Saurabh Banerjee, while setting aside the trial court’s order granting the teacher bail, noted that there “may be some likelihood” of her tampering with the evidence and/or influencing witnesses in the case, given that she has been a teacher at the school for the past 13 years and thus holds a post of significance and/or authority.

The teacher was granted bail by the trial court within six days of her arrest in May.

Observing that matters under legislations such as POCSO Act warrants “utmost care, attention and caution, particularly, at the stage of considering release of the accused on bail,” Justice Banerjee held that the trial court erred by ignoring “crucial facts”.

Noting that the trial court had granted bail to the teacher primarily on the ground that the child failed to disclose the teacher’s name in the complaint and only mentioned her name in the statement recorded before the magistrate.

“The victim has not only disclosed the name of the respondent but also identified her later at the time of videorecorded identification proceedings. 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,” the HC held.

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Sohini Ghosh is a Senior Correspondent at The Indian Express. Previously based in Ahmedabad covering Gujarat, she recently moved to the New Delhi bureau, where she primarily covers legal developments at the Delhi High Court

Professional Profile

Background: An alumna of the Asian College of Journalism (ACJ), she previously worked with ET NOW before joining The Indian Express.

Core Beats: Her reporting is currently centered on the Delhi High Court, with a focus on high-profile constitutional disputes, disputes over intellectual property, criminal and civil cases, issues of human rights and regulatory law (especially in the areas of technology and healthcare).

Earlier Specialty: In Gujarat, she was known for her rigorous coverage in the beats of crime, law and policy, and social justice issues, including the 2002 riot cases, 2008 serial bomb blast case, 2016 flogging of Dalits in Una, among others.

She has extensively covered health in the state, including being part of the team that revealed the segregation of wards at the state’s largest government hospital on lines of faith in April 2020.

With Ahmedabad being a UNESCO heritage city, she has widely covered urban development and heritage issues, including the redevelopment of the Sabarmati Ashram

Recent Notable Articles (Late 2025)

Her recent reporting from the Delhi High Court covers major political, constitutional, corporate, and public-interest legal battles:

High-Profile Case Coverage

She has extensively covered the various legal battles - including for compensation under the aegis of North East Delhi Riots Claims Commission - pertaining to the 2020 northeast Delhi riots, as well as 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

She has also led coverage at the intersection of technology and governance, and its impact on the citizenry, from, and beyond courtrooms — such as the government’s stakeholder consultations for framing AI-Deepfake policy.

Signature Style

Sohini is recognized for her sustained reporting from courtrooms and beyond. She specialises in breaking down dense legal arguments to make legalese accessible for readers. Her transition from Gujarat to Delhi has seen her expand her coverage on regulatory, corporate and intellectual property law, while maintaining a strong commitment to human rights and lacuna in the criminal justice system.

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