Greeva Garg –
Published on: August 14, 2021 11:39 IST
In a Delhi Rape Case being currently investigated by the Delhi Police, they informed a Delhi Court no evidence has been found so far to confirm whether the 9-year-old girl was raped before allegedly being killed near Delhi Cantonment in South-West.
The Investigating Officer (IO) in the case told the Court that the disclosure statements of four accused have revealed that two of them, Radhey Shyam, the 55-year-old priest of the crematorium, and its employee Kuldeep Singh had raped and killed the minor victim. The remaining accused persons, Salim Ahmad and Laxmi Narayan, both employees at the crematorium had helped them in trying to cremate the deceased minor.
Further IO submitted that, “But Neither any statement of any eyewitness nor any other evidence, including medical or scientific could be collected so far to confirm as to whether the victim child was raped or not. At this stage, it cannot be conclusively said as to whether the victim child was raped or not.”
Special Judge Ashutosh Kumar, earlier awarded Rs 2.5 lakh as interim relief to the mother of the girl for the loss of child’s life. However, the Court refused to grant further interim relief on the additional ground of the alleged rape of the victim in view of the submissions of the IO stating that, “Disclosure statements of the accused persons before police, unless supported by other evidence, is not admissible under law.”
The Court, meanwhile, sent the four accused, who were all known to the girl’s mother, to 14-day judicial custody.
The Judge granted the liberty to complainants to move a fresh application regarding compensation for rape, if after further investigation Police comes to the conclusion that the victim’s child was raped.
On the statement of girl’s mother, the Delhi Police registered an FIR against four accused on August 1, 2021.
The accused were alleged under Section 302 (murder), 376 (rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), along with the relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.