Frame charges against five for gangrape: HC to trial judge

Five men discharged by a trial court from a case of gang rape of a girl, allegedly pushed into sex trade by her parents, have been ordered by the Delhi High Court to be tried for the penal offence.

While asking the trial court to frame charges of gangrape against the five, the court also dismissed the appeals of four women, including the victim's mother, against the trial court's order framing charges against them and putting them on trial for allegedly abetting the girl's rape.

Justice P K Bhasin gave the order on a joint plea by the prosecution and the rape victim, who has also accused her father of raping her in past. The father is on run and has been declared proclaimed offender.

Allowing the appeal against the trial court's July 2010 order discharging the five men, the high court ordered them to appear before the trial court on December 4.

"The revision petitions filed against the order of the trial Court discharging five accused persons are allowed and they (accused) are ordered to be charged and tried under Section 376(2)(g) IPC," Justice Bhasin said.

"The statements under sections 161 (before police) and 164 (before magistrate) of Cr PC of the prosecutrix claiming the discharged accused also to be the rapists were sufficient to accept the allegations against them at the stage of framing charges," the high court said.

Rejecting the defence counsel argument that the allegations of rape are highly improbable, the court said "the submission has no merit as there is nothing improbable about those allegations."

In the police complaint, the victim had further alleged that her parents were involved in sex racket and accused her father of raping her on two earlier occasions in 2005.

According to prosecution, the rape victim had lodged a complaint with police against five men for raping her on July 21, 2006 in a house at Ganesh Nagar in East Delhi. She had alleged she was forced into the act by four women including her mother.

... contd.

ALSO READ

Cornered Congress fires Ashwani Kumar, Pawan Kumar Bansal

Slow rise, fast fall for P K Bansal

Ishrat Jahan encounter case: Cops protecting accused, says Gujarat HC

Setback for Mamata govt, HC upholds state EC's move to hold 3-phase panchayat polls