“The IWC filed its charge sheet in the court of special judge (SC / ST Atrocity Prevention Act) BD Bharti in Hathras and invoked charges against the four defendants – Sandeep, Ravi, Ramu and Luv Kush, “defense attorney Munna Singh, who represents the defendants, told TOI on Friday.
All four have been charged under Sections 302 (murder), 376 (rape), 376A (punishment for causing the death or resulting in the victim’s persistent vegetative state) and 376D (gang rape) of the IPC, and under Section 3 (2) (v) of the SC / ST Act (offense punishable by imprisonment for a period of 10 years or more against a person for the fact that the person belongs to a SC or ST community). The court has scheduled the next hearing for January 4. The Lucknow court of the Allahabad High Court, which is overseeing the investigation, will take up the case on January 27.
The CBI had registered the case on October 11 and began investigating two days after that. After several field visits, depositions, polygraph tests, and brain electrical oscillation signature profiling tests over two months, the CBI produced its 2,000-page charge sheet. “There were more than 700 pages of supporting documents, the main content of which was 30 pages long. The witness list is four pages long,” a source told TOI. Another CBI source said analysis of the post-mortem report by central forensic experts was also conducted before the charge sheet was presented.
In the evening, the CBI issued a statement on its charge sheet, adding, as a postscript: “The public is reminded that the above findings are based on the investigation conducted by the CBI and the evidence gathered by it. Under Indian law, the defendants are presumed innocent until their guilt is finally established after a fair trial. ”
Days after the girl died in Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital on September 29 and was hastily cremated in her village after midnight without the consent of her family, ADG (law and order) Prashant Kumar had said that “there was no evidence of rape “based on a forensic report of samples taken 11 days after she was allegedly raped. The main defendant, Sandeep, had written a letter from prison claiming his innocence, saying that he was involved with the girl and that his family resented their relationship. This was around when the alleged logs of calls exchanged between the girl’s older brother and Sandeep were also leaked. Meanwhile, upper caste communities had been mobilizing support for the accused. In October, a former BJP MLA had organized a “support” meeting at his Hathras residence for the accused.
On Friday, the victim’s brother and sister-in-law were in Hathras court, under a CRPF security cover. In the village where they live, they are one of four Dalit families along with 60 from the upper castes.
“This is a step forward in our search for justice. The CBI charge sheet vindicates our position,” the older brother of the victim told TOI. “But real victory will only come when the accused are punished … We have no faith left in the police. They did not treat us well. But now we are happy with the investigation.” The sister-in-law of the dead girl added: “We want the DM removed. That is our only demand now.” The DM, Praveen Kumar Laxkar, had been seen in a video allegedly asking the brother to line up because the media would “go away” at some point.
In the evening, the Secretary General of Congress, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, issued a statement of support: “I am encouraged to see that the IWC has taken an important step towards the provision of justice, and I hope this brings some comfort to the family. of the victim. ”
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