Hathras Case| No Medical Evidence Of Gang Rape, Victim Was Possibly Tutored; Can’t Say Prime Accused Intended To Kill Her: UP Court

Convicting one person in the Hathras alleged Gang Rape & Murder case, the Uttar Pradesh Court, in its judgment noted that since the entire case had assumed political undertones, it was possible that the victim had made allegations of gang rape against the 4 accused after being tutored by her family members and other people who had been coming to meet her, The Special Judge Trilok. Convicting one person in the Hathras alleged Gang Rape & Murder case, the Uttar Pradesh Court, in its judgment noted that since the entire case had assumed political undertones, it was possible that the victim had made allegations of gang rape against the 4 accused after being tutored by her family members and other people who had been coming to meet her, The Special Judge Trilok Pal Singh was also of the view that it can’t be said that the intent of the Prime Accused Sandeep was to kill her as the victim continued to talk even after 8 days of the incident and hence, he was liable to be punished under Section 304 of IPC and not under Section 302. Court's significant observations In its analysis of the material on record, the Court found that after this incident, the entire episode had taken a political undertone and many people were coming to meet the family members of the victim and the family members of the victim were meeting the victim, so a possibility cannot be ruled out that other people or on being taught by her family members, apart from accused Sandeep, the names of other accused were mentioned by the victim in her statement given Chief Constable and Naib Tehsildar Manish Kumar eight days after the incident. "Five days after the incident, even in her statement given to female constable Ms Rashmi, she has given the name of only one accused Sandeep and did not tell about any incident of rape, therefore naming four accused on 22.09.2020 before P0W0-7 Sarla Devi and P0W0-6 Naib Tehsildar Manish Kumar by the victim cannot be said to be credible among those who caused the incident, nor can the statement that the victim was raped be called as credible," the Court noted.