Uber cab rape case: Accused driver claims injuries were 'planted' on victim by police

New Delhi: The Uber cab driver, accused of raping a 25-year-old woman executive, on Saturday claimed before a court in New Delhi that medical report of the alleged victim had been manipulated and injuries on her were “planted” by the police. Continuing the final arguments before Additional Sessions Judge Kaveri Baweja, advocate D K Mishra, appearing for 32-year-old accused Shiv Kumar Yadav, said “as per the initial medical examination of the girl, there were no injury marks found on her body. Three doctors had examined her and none opined that she had any injury in her private parts.” [caption id=“attachment_2128845” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Shiv Kumar Yadav. PTI[/caption] “The injuries, were however, brought up in the charge sheet which creates doubt that either the police or the girl, later, planted the injury marks,” he said. Countering his submissions, special public prosecutor Atul Shrivastava said, “The counsel is only trying to linger on and delay the case. Why would a girl plant an injury on herself?” During the arguments, the defence counsel said that the girl, after her first medical examination, was not given any medication but was taken for further medical tests which creates doubt. He also claimed that identity of the car, in which the alleged incident took place, was not established and the one recovered by the police was not the offending car. “Where is the car? Identity of the vehicle is in dispute. The car which has been inspected is not my car,” he said. At the onset of the proceedings, the judge asked Yadav’s lawyer how much time he would take to wrap up, to which he replied he doesn’t know. The judge, who is hearing final arguments in the case, then pulled up the counsel saying, “How can you say you don’t know? Don’t waste my time. I am giving you two days to finish the arguments.” Mentioning about other “discrepancies” in the probe, the counsel argued that there were “unexplained over-writings” in the seized documents. According to the prosecution, the incident took place on the night of December 5 last year when the victim, who was working for a finance company in Gurgaon, was heading back home. She had taken the taxi from Vasant Vihar to go to her house in Inderlok and the accused, after taking another route, raped her. Yadav was arrested on 7 December from Mathura in a joint operation by Delhi and Uttar Pradesh police. The court had on 13 January framed charges against Yadav under various sections of the Indian Penal Code for alleged offences of endangering a woman’s life while raping her, abducting with an intent to compel her for marriage, criminally intimidating and causing hurt. The trial in the case had commenced on 15 January and the prosecution concluded recording its evidence in 17 days by examining 28 witnesses. The accused had not examined any witness in his defence. During recording of her statement in the court, the victim had identified Yadav as the one who had raped her. The court had also recorded the testimony of the accused in which he termed the charge against him as “false”. If convicted in the case, Yadav faces a maximum of life imprisonment as punishment. PTI