16 December gang rape: Relative refutes claims of concocted story
11 Aug 2013 4:43 AM IST
A relative of an accused in the 16 December gang rape case has refuted Delhi police’s claim in a special court that she concocted a false story at the behest of their lawyer that he had taken a train to Bihar a day before the incident and was not involved in the crime.
Accused Akshay Thakur’s elder sister-in-law, who came in court to depose as a defence witness, also declined the police claim that the accused had not boarded the train on 15 December, 2012 from Delhi to his native village and was in the bus in which the girl was gang raped on 16 December.
Akshay in his statement had claimed that he had left for his native village in Bihar a day before the incident, so he was not in the bus at the time of the incident.
‘It is incorrect to suggest that I have concocted a false story about my travelling with Akshay on 15 December, 2012 according to legal advice given to us. It is incorrect to suggest that I am deposing falsely,’ she told additional sessions judge Yogesh Khanna.
Corroborating Akshay’s alibi, she also said that the accused is ‘innocent and is falsely implicated’.
The woman, in her statement stated that ‘since my husband was having some work, so he did not join in the journey, instead my brother-in-law (Akshay) joined me and went with me and my son to the village on 15 December, 2012’.
Special public prosecutor Dayan Krishnan, however, said that the witness had boarded the train on 15 December but with her husband and kid and Akshay was not with them.
‘He was present in Delhi on 16 December, 2012 and was part of the group who had gang raped the girl and had also assaulted her male friend with an iron rod,’ the prosecutor contended.
Accused Vinay Sharma and Pawan Gupta in their statement had also claimed innocence and said they were not in the bus in which a 23-year girl was allegedly gang raped by six men.
Accused Akshay Thakur’s elder sister-in-law, who came in court to depose as a defence witness, also declined the police claim that the accused had not boarded the train on 15 December, 2012 from Delhi to his native village and was in the bus in which the girl was gang raped on 16 December.
Akshay in his statement had claimed that he had left for his native village in Bihar a day before the incident, so he was not in the bus at the time of the incident.
‘It is incorrect to suggest that I have concocted a false story about my travelling with Akshay on 15 December, 2012 according to legal advice given to us. It is incorrect to suggest that I am deposing falsely,’ she told additional sessions judge Yogesh Khanna.
Corroborating Akshay’s alibi, she also said that the accused is ‘innocent and is falsely implicated’.
The woman, in her statement stated that ‘since my husband was having some work, so he did not join in the journey, instead my brother-in-law (Akshay) joined me and went with me and my son to the village on 15 December, 2012’.
Special public prosecutor Dayan Krishnan, however, said that the witness had boarded the train on 15 December but with her husband and kid and Akshay was not with them.
‘He was present in Delhi on 16 December, 2012 and was part of the group who had gang raped the girl and had also assaulted her male friend with an iron rod,’ the prosecutor contended.
Accused Vinay Sharma and Pawan Gupta in their statement had also claimed innocence and said they were not in the bus in which a 23-year girl was allegedly gang raped by six men.
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