Dehradun: A week after a POCSO court denied bail to the five school administrators who have been held for allegedly covering up the gang rape of a class X student of their school, their lawyers said that they will be approaching the high court seeking bail.Speaking with TOI, Rajeev Sharma, the lawyer representing the accused, said they are planning to approach the HC when the court opens after holidays. “We are studying the order of the POCSO court and preparing our case. Once the high court convenes on Tuesday, the plea will be filed,” Sharma said.He claimed that police had earlier booked the school administrators which include the principal as well as the director in “bailable offences but later added sections like 376d (gang-rape), 313 (causing miscarriage without the consent of the girl) as well as 212 (harbouring offenders).” “We are going to plead in the high court that the police had initially charged our clients under section 201 (disappearance of evidence) and 120b (criminal conspiracy) which are bailable offences but they later added many other sections which do not apply to them,” Sharma alleged.The police however maintained that they will contest the bail application because it is a heinous crime and amounts to “crime against society.” “We will definitely contest the bail plea because the accused have deliberately tried to cover up the incident with a criminal conspiracy in mind and their release will send a wrong message to society,” said Naresh Rathore, SHO Sahaspur where the case is registered.Rathore added that their release will also affect some of the witnesses in the case. “We have made some of the students of the school as witnesses in the court and we fear that once these administrators are released, they might affect the students. Hence, the court should not grant them bail.”The school’s administrators have been in judicial custody since September 19. Their bail plea was rejected on October 12 by a POCSO court in Doon. The five have been accused of hushing up the alleged gang rape of a class X student and shielding four boys who have been accused of committing the crime.

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