Delhi gangrape: Accused move HC seeking trial on alternate days

New Delhi: Two out of the four accused in the 16 December gangrape on Friday approached the Delhi High Court against the special court order dismissing their plea for trial to be held on alternate days instead of day-to-day basis. On 28 March, the special court had dismissed their plea saying “such pleas are made to delay the proceedings.” [caption id=“attachment_688213” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Image for representation only. PTI[/caption] “Even the prayer that the trial be conducted on alternate days or that the matter be adjourned every time for different dates to enable the counsel to seek instructions from his accused to cross-examine the witnesses, cannot be allowed, as per section 309 (power to postpone or adjourn proceedings) of CrPC,” the court also said. Filing a petition through counsel ML Sharma, accused Mukesh and Akshya also sought quashing of FIR and subsequent proceedings on the ground that police had manipulated it as the original complaint was silent about the names of the accused persons. “All evidence have been procured through torture to implicate the petitioners. They belong to poor family and have no means to fight…,” the plea said urging the court to quash the entire proceedings arising out of the FIR. The accused also said the police failed to provide them the Hindi translated copy of the FIR and chargesheet. “The accused are Hindi speaking people and it is difficult for them to understand the facts as they don’t know English. Petitioner till date never knew what are the true facts as the entire documents are in English,” the petitioners’ counsel said. Justice Mukta Gupta fixed 8 April for hearing the case. Initially five adult accused in the case were facing trial for allegedly gang-raping and assaulting a 23-year-old girl in a moving bus in New Delhi on the night of 16 December, 2012. With the proceedings against the main accused Ram Singh having abated after his death on March 11, the remaining four adult accused Mukesh, Vinay, Akshay and Pawan Gupta are facing trial in the case for rape and murder of the girl. The sixth accused in the case is a juvenile, who is facing proceedings before the Juvenile Justice Board. The girl had died on December 29, 2012 in a Singapore hospital due to the grievous injuries she suffered when she was brutally assaulted by the six accused. PTI