Delhi gangrape: Court allows cops to examine 3 more witnesses

New Delhi: A special court in New Delhi on Thursday allowed the prosecution to examine three more witnesses to counter the claims of December 16 gangrape case accused who had taken a plea of alibi that they were not present in the bus in which a 23-year-old girl was allegedly gangraped by six persons. Observing that the accused themselves had taken the plea of alibi and had led evidence to substantiate it, the court said “no prejudice shall be caused to the defence in calling of such witnesses being in the interest of justice”. [caption id=“attachment_1021277” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Image for representation only. Reuters[/caption] “Accused Vinay Sharma and Pawan Gupta are seeking a plea of alibi, claiming, interalia, that they were enjoying a musical event organised by a Church on 16 December, 2012 night in the District Park in Hauz Khas, New Delhi, in a gathering of 300 persons and hence to find the truth as to if any musical event was organised on 16 December last year by any Church it has become desirable to examine…,” Additional Sessions Judge Yogesh Khanna said. The order came on an application under section 311 of CrPC moved by Special Public Prosecutor Dayan Krishnan who had contended he needs to call material witnesses to establish that these two accused were not in the park and were present in the bus on the night of the incident. During the recording of the statement, Vinay and Pawan had said they had gone to a music function at the park here on the night of the incident and their plea was also corroborated by their relatives who had deposed as defence witnesses. However, the prosecution had opposed their plea saying no musical function was organised by any Church in the park on December 16 night and they had committed the crime in a moving bus along with other four co-accused, including a juvenile. According to the prosecution, Ram Singh, Vinay, Pawan, Akshay Thakur and Mukesh had allegedly gangraped the girl in a moving bus here. The victim died of injuries on 29 December  last year while undergoing treatment in a Singapore hospital. During the trial, Ram Singh was found dead in Tihar Jail on March 11 and court proceedings against him stand abated. The sixth accused, a juvenile, facing an inquiry before the juvenile justice board here. Accused Mukesh, during his deposition, had told the court that he was driving the bus in which the girl was sexually assaulted and her male friend was brutally attacked by his elder brother Ram Singh, Vinay, Pawan, Akshay and the juvenile. PTI