Dec 16 gangrape: Priest refutes accused's 'music function' alibi

New Delhi: A priest, who deposed before a special court here today, refuted the claim of a December 16 gangrape case accused that the latter was attending a music event at a DDA park on the night of the incident, saying “no such function was organised on that night. The prosecution brought as a witness the Parish Priest of a Catholic Church in south Delhi to counter the claim of Vinay Sharma who in his statement had said he was not in the bus in which the 23-year-old girl was gangraped allegedly by six persons. [caption id=“attachment_1033901” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  representational image of the Delhi gangrape protests. PTI[/caption] Vinay had claimed that on December 16, he had gone to a music event organised by the Church in the DDA district park at Hauz Khas in south Delhi. “On December 16, 2012, no musical function was organised ahead of the Christmas… an NGO, Pratibha Tara, run by daughters of the Heart of Mary and the sisters of the Church had also not organised such a function at the district park,” the priest, who is also the head of the St. Thomas Church, told Additional Sessions Judge Yogesh Khanna. During his cross-examination by A P Singh, the counsel for Vinay and Akshay Thakur, the priest said “we have nothing to do with the Hauz Khas area as the Church has enough space to organise a gathering or a music function in its premises”. He also refuted the defence counsel’s allegation that he was deposing falsely at the behest of SHO, Vasant Vihar. The prosecution had said neither the DDA nor the Church had organised any function in the park on December 16 night and the accused had committed the crime in the bus along with other five co-accused, including a juvenile. The witness also rejected the counsel’s allegation that the Church has a number of Small Christan Community (SSC) which also organise music event in local areas and park without their knowledge. “It is wrong to suggest that the SSC units do not inform us about the area where they are holding their function. We do not keep any written record of areas where the functions are organised by SSC unit, I or my representative visit there. “It is wrong to suggest that the SSC units organise the programmes in the park or at public place without intimating us,” the priest, who is prosecution’s 84th witness, said. He said the “SSC units inform us before hand and we announce such programmes in our Church on the notice board”. “It is wrong to suggest that on December 16, 2012 the SSC units organised a programme in the evening at Hauz Khas district park, opposite IIT gate,” the witness added. According to the prosecution, Ram Singh, Vinay, Akshay, Pawan Gupta and Mukesh had allegedly gangraped the girl in the moving bus. The victim died of injuries on December 29 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, is facing inquiry before the juvenile justice board here. PTI