Unnao trial to be held in-camera
New Delhi: A Delhi court on Tuesday ordered that the Unnao cases being tried in Tis Hazari would be held in-camera, citing the vulnerability and threat perception of the witnesses.
The court here added that the trial will be held in a manner that the witnesses feel secure and safe so that they can be deposed in court without any fear.
At the Unnao hearing on Tuesday, Judge Dharmesh Sharma also asked for a report on the medical condition of the rape victim, who is currently being treated at AIIMS, Delhi after begin airlifted from a Lucknow hospital.
The court said that formal witnesses in the case will be examined on August 16 and 17 and the main witnesses will be examined from August 19 onwards.
The Delhi court has been asked to try four of the Unnao cases that pertain to the initial rape of the then minor victim, the subsequent kidnapping and gang rape of the victim, the framing of the victim's father and the custodial death of the teenager's father.
After hearing arguments on the custodial death of the rape victim's charges, the court also framed charges of murder against Kuldeep Singh Sengar, his brother Atul Sengar and three UP policemen implicated in the case.
After Sengar had allegedly raped the then 17-year-old girl at his Unnao home, the victim was kidnapped and gang-raped by his henchmen.
When the girl's father was trying to get the case registered at one of the police stations in the UP town, Sengar allegedly instructed policemen in Unnao to plant a country-made pistol on his person and frame him in a purported Arms Act case.
It was "part of a larger conspiracy to deter, silence and prevent the father from pursuing the complaint", the court said. However, Sengar has denied all these charges.
Meanwhile, the deadline for the CBI to complete its probe in the accident investigation is fast approaching.
The Supreme Court of India had earlier directed the Central Bureau of Investigation to complete its probe and file a chargesheet in the accident case by August 14.
A car in which the Unnao rape survivor, her family and lawyer were travelling was hit by an over-speeding truck in Raebareli on Sunday (July 28), killing two members, leaving her and the advocate critically injured. The truck's number plates were blackened.
The CBI has since poured in extensive resources into the investigation, questioned Sengar in jail, taken custody of the truck driver and cleaner and collected forensic evidence from the scene.
In fact, the probe team has also conducted lie-detector tests on the driver, cleaner and owner of the truck and recently took the driver Ashish Pal and the cleaner to the Forensic Science Laboratory in Gandhinagar to conduct Narco tests on them.
