NEW DELHI: The Supreme court on Tuesday has stayed Delhi HC order allowing the accused in the Uber cab rape case to recall and re-examine 13 witnesses.
The court has agreed to hear plea of the rape victim who had challenged Delhi high court’s order.
SC issued notice to the accused and Delhi police on the petition of victim who pleaded that she should not be put to torturous experience by being cross examined again in the case.
The 26-year-old rape victim had challenged a Delhi high court order of March 4. She had pleaded that she should not be put to unnecessary torture and harassment by going through the traumatic experience of being cross-examined all over again.
Earlier, appearing before a bench headed by Chief Justice HL Dattu, senior advocate Colin Gonsalves had said that the HC had erred in allowing recall of witnesses after the prosecution evidence was closed. He had mentioned that the HC order would delay the trial court proceedings and pleaded for an urgent hearing in the case.
Agreeing to his plea, Justice Dattu posted the case for Tuesday.
The rape survivor said in her petition that the high court had passed the order without making her a party. “The order is unconstitutional and in breach of the principles regarding recall and re-examination under section 311 of CrPC. It causes substantial injustice to the complainant and goes against the very principles of speedy trial and Criminal Law Amendment Act, 2013,” she mentioned in her petition.
She said the HC allowed recall of witnesses despite finding no fault in the manner in which the trial was conducted. “The conclusion of the high court that it is the accused alone who stands to suffer on account of the delay is wrong as it is the victim who suffers the most for having to go through a trial virtually from the beginning, all over again,” the petition said.
The accused, Shiv Kumar Yadav, had first moved the trial court for recall of witnesses after he changed his lawyer. His plea was rejected by the court which observed that it was only an attempt on his party to prolong the trial.
According to the prosecution, the incident took place on the night of December 5 last year when the woman, a finance executive working in Gurgaon, was heading back home. Police said the woman had taken the taxi from Vasant Vihar to return to her house in Inderlok area of north Delhi and the accused, who took another route, allegedly raped her.
TOI | Mar 10, 2015
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