statesman news service
New Delhi, 2 July
Delhi police today approached the special court seeking its permission to summon the owner of the bus, in which a 23-year-old paramedical student girl was gang-raped on 16 December, as witness.
In his plea before Additional Sessions Judge Yogesh Khanna, special public prosecutor Dayan Krishnan, sought to call Dinesh Yadav, owner of the bus, as witness .
Besides Yadav, the prosecutor has also sought the court’s permission to call Ramadhar, a carpenter who was allegedly robbed by the six after luring him into the bus.
“On review of the evidence, it is submitted that Dinesh Yadav, the owner of the bus and the employer of accused Ram Singh (since deceased) as well as Ramadhar who is not a cited witness but is a complainant, and a purported victim of the same accused persons, are required to be summoned as it is in our respectful submissions that not summoning them may be perceived as being unfair to the accused,” said Krishnan adding that in the interest of justice and fair trial, Yadav and Ramadhar be summoned as a witness.
The prosecution’s move was, however, opposed by the counsel for accused Vinay Sharma, Akshay Thakur, Pawan Gupta and Mukesh, who are facing trial for gangrape and murder of the victim.
