Police 'botched up' rape case, Court orders inquiry
Police 'botched up' rape case, Court orders inquiry
NEW DELHI: Criticising the "shoddy and unintelligible" probe by Delhi Police
in a rape case, a court here has ordered inquiry against the
investigating officers to find out if the "botched up investigation was
motivated or was due to complete lack of competence".
Additional Sessions Judge Nisha Saxena
directed DCP (north east) to inquire the role of investigating officers
in a rape case against the accused who were acquitted once and then
retried in another criminal case without police having collected any
concrete evidence.
"I feel the way and the manner in which
investigation was conducted in the instant case in utter disregard of
law, calls for enquiry into the actions of concerned police officials to
ascertain if it was motivated or was due to complete lack of
knowledge/competence," the court said.
The prosecution case
originates from an FIR lodged in 2006 on the complaint of a woman that
she was raped by three men - Vinod, Suresh and Brahmpal. She said that
on the pretext of helping her financially, Vinod, a milk supplier, took
her to a jungle in Usmanpur here on March 17, 2006 where he and the
co-accused raped her.
However, in her statement recorded by the
magistrate, she stated she had falsely accused the trio on the
instigation of one Adesh for Rs 3,000 as they had implicated Adesh's
brother in a criminal case.
She also said that in pursuance of
their conspiracy, Adesh took her to the jungle where she was raped by
two men so that her medical examination confirmed the sexual assault.
Based on this statement, the police filed a case against one Ram Kumar whose alias was mentioned as Adesh and his two accomplices Bijender and Nem Singh but could not explain where and when were they arrested.
During trial, the woman again took a somersault and denied all
allegations against Adesh, Bijender and Singh leading to their
acquittal.
Meanwhile, the police obtained permission for
further probe in the matter and concluded that the woman and her husband
had hatched a conspiracy with Ram Kumar, Bijender and Nem Singh to
implicate Vinod, Brahmpal and Suresh.
A fresh case of rape,
conspiracy and false evidence was registered against the woman, her
husband and also Ram Kumar, Bijender and Nem Singh, which came up for
trial by ASJ Saxena.
After securing bail from the court in the
fresh case, the woman and her husband absconded and were declared
proclaimed offender.
While acquitting Ram, Bijender and Nem Singh, the ASJ noted that IO of the original rape case ASI Anuradha Tyagi had no evidence if Adesh was also known by the name of Ram Kumar and even then chargesheeted him.
The court noted that even the IO of the second case, Inspector Krishan Lal could not collect any proof of enmity which he claimed led to Ram Kumar getting a false rape case registered against Vinod, Brahmpal and Suresh.
Directing DCP (north east) to inquire the role of IO Anuradha and
Krishan Lal, the court said, "There are many loose ends in the
prosecution story which go unexplained and the court is baffled and
bewildered in the absence of any explanation.
"No effort has been made to establish that Adesh named in the statement of the prosecutrix to the magistrate is same as Ram Kumar," it said.
The ASJ said, "It is not clear whether the initial complaint was made
by the victim under threat, pressure, coercion or whether her statement
to the magistrate was recorded under influence or threat by actual
offenders or by the probe agency in collusion with the actual offenders.
"The investigation in the matter is shoddy, slipshod and
completely botched up and entire investigation seems to have been
conducted in such a manner so as to benefit the persons against whom
allegations were made in original complaint.
"The lodging of
present FIR and the criminal trial of accused Nem Singh, Bijender and
Ram Kumar alias Adesh who have faced trial since the year 2006 has
resulted in double jeopardy and double whammy to them," it added.
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