New Delhi: A Delhi court will today pronounce its verdict in the 2010 Dhaula Kuan gangrape case wherein a 30-year-old BPO employee was assaulted by five men.
According to the police, Shamshad alias Khutkan, Usman alias Kale, Shahid alias Chhota Billi, Iqbal alias Bada Billi, and Kamruddin alias Mobile had allegedly abducted the victim on November 24, 2010, while she was walking home with her friend after her shift had ended.
The accused then took the victim to Mongolpuri, allegedly gang-raped her, and left her on an isolated road.
Earlier, on September 24, the court had fixed the date of pronouncement of verdict for Friday after the prosecution had rebutted the claim of one of the five accused that the police had fudged the evidence.
The court had reserved the verdict after the police denied the alleged discrepancies pointed out by the counsel for one of the accused, Usman, on September 22, claiming that blood sample collected from the victim was planted on his pants to ensure matching of DNA samples.
Responding to Usman's plea, the public prosecutor had said the exhibits were sent for forensic test on November 26, 2010, much before the accused was arrested on December 2, 2010, and reiterated the argument that there was no tampering with the evidence.
Usman had claimed that the medical report and statement of the alleged victim had suggested that no external injuries were caused to her.
His counsel had also questioned the discrepancies in the statements of the investigating officer (IO) and the forensic expert over number of exhibits sent during the probe, received by the lab, and packed in different envelopes.
Observing that manipulation of blood samples looks highly improbable, the court on September 22 had directed the police to respond to the allegations leveled by Usman.
This is the second time the verdict was deferred, reason being – The judge was on vacation.
“Because of a long vacation, I could not spare time; so the judgement has not been completed yet. I give you next date for pronouncement of judgement. You come on October 14,” Additional Sessions Judge Virender Bhatt had said.
Earlier, the verdict was to be pronounced on September 24. “I will not defer the verdict on that day,” the judge said.
