New Delhi,
September 22: A local Delhi court on Tuesday rejected Delhi police’s plea for a
speedy trial in the Delhi Cantonment case of rape and murder of a minor Dalit
girl on grounds that there is a huge pendency in cases related to crime against
children.
Additional Sessions
Judge Ashutosh Kumar dismissed a plea by the police seeking expeditious hearing
in the matter saying that he has 620 pending cases under Protection of Children
from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act 2012 in his court, including the present one,
and several accused are languishing in jail pending trial.
“In view of
the huge pendency before this court and the submissions of the defence counsel
that they have to attend to their other matters, day-to-day hearing will not be
possible in this case. However, this court shall expeditiously hear the case,”
he said.
The dalit
minor victim had allegedly been raped, murdered and then hurriedly cremated
without the parent’s consent a month and a half back in cantonment area of
Delhi. The prime accused, a 55-year-old Hindu priest, and three employees of
the crematorium claim that the girl died of electrocution while fetching water
from a cooler. The four accused are in jail.
The police
had on August 28 filed a charge sheet against the prime accused Radhey Shyam
and three employees of the crematorium - Kuldeep Singh, Salim Ahmed and Laxmi
Narayan - for rape, wrongful confinement, murder, destruction of evidence, and
under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act, and the
Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Prevention of Atrocities Act.
Investigations
revealed that the prime accused – the priest, Radhey Shyam – was a porn addict
and also used to regularly get massages from the minor victim.
This is the
same case where the police earlier dithered to take appropriate action and only
after a lot of protests that the police had reluctantly geared up. Citizens while
being concerned of the deteriorating law and order situation in the city-state,
especially in terms of crime against women, had condemned Delhi police which is
directly under the Union Home Ministry for slow action and had also protested
for fast-tracking the case.
Additional
public prosecutor Yadvinder Singh, who appeared in the court on behalf of the
police, pleaded that fast-tracking the case will bring justice to the victim’s
family.
However,
counsel of the accused Radhey Shyam contended that the arguments on charge can
only begin after the police submit evidence of rape of the minor girl in their
supplementary charge sheet.
“There are
so many Pocso cases. Why are the police trying to fast-track this case only?
The charge sheet was filed within a month and evidence of rape is yet to be
proved by them. The accused in this case deserve a fair trial too, one which is
not hurried,” he argued, adding that he had other cases to look into and he
cannot devote his time only on a single case.
The
opposition counsel also moved an application in the court, seeking protection
for his client who was being assaulted by the inmates in the prison as well as
the jail van. The application also said that there was danger to Shyam’s life
because he is receiving life threats from co-inmates.
“Life of the
applicant (Shyam) is in danger as some of the co-prisoners physically assaulted
him in jail as well while traveling to the court in police van during proceedings
in the case and regularly threaten to kill him,” the application said. The
judge issued notice to Delhi police seeking their response and posted the case
for September 29.