New Delhi, July 1 -- A court in Anantnag rejected the bail plea of a man accused of raping a 70-year-old woman. The alleged rape took place inside a hotel room in Pahalgam - a tourist hotspot that is still recovering from a different kind of horror, a terrorist attack that killed 26.

The court lamented a sexual assault it said reflected a "sick mentality" and the "moral decay" of society in general, and expressed sorrow over the woman, a tourist from Maharashtra, having to carry this traumatic memory as a horrific reminder of her visit to the former state.

A furious court denied the accused, identified as Zubair Ahmad, a local, any relief.

Principal Sessions Judge Tahir Khurshid Raina said, "I do not find arguments advanced (by Ahmad) ...