Dec 16 gangrape: Plea to summon Mulayam as witness rejected

A Delhi court Tuesday rejected the plea of one of the accused in the Dec 16, 2012, gangrape case to summon political leaders Mulayam Singh Yadav and Sharad Yadav and RSS supremo Mohan Bhagwat to depose in his defence.

Accused Vinay Sharma, facing trial along with three others, had also sought to make Abhijit Mukherjee, MP son of President Pranab Mukherjee, a defence witness, saying he had also made a statement against the demonstration and protest in the wake of the gangrape of a 23-year-old physiotherapy intern.

Additional Sessions Judge Yogesh Khanna declined Sharma's plea to summon them in his defence. The court said they are not "relevant to decide the real dispute".

The court, however, allowed Sharma's counsel to present a CD of the video clippings through which he wanted to show that the accused was not in the bus.

Sharma, during recording of statement before the court, had claimed that he was not in the bus and had gone to a music function along with co-accused Pawan Gupta.

However, accused Mukesh during his deposition told the court that he was driving the bus in which the woman was sexually assaulted and her male friend was brutally attacked by his elder brother Ram Singh, Sharma, Pawan, Akshay Thakur and the juvenile.

The woman was brutally tortured and gangraped in a moving bus by five men and a juvenile after she boarded the vehicle with her male friend. She died 13 days after the incident.

The juvenile is facing proceedings before a Juvenile Justice Board, while the four other accused were put up for trial in the fast-track court. One of the accused, Ram Singh, allegedly committed suicide in the Tihar Jail.