Court frames rape charge against JNU student

JNU student Anmol Ratan was today put on trial, for allegedly raping a 28-year-old fellow student in the university hostel, by a Delhi court which kept bail plea pending till the recording of the woman's statement.
Additional Sessions Judge Devender Kumar Sharma framed charges against Ratan for the alleged offences of rape and criminal intimidation under sections 376 and 506 of the IPC respectively.
The court framed the charges after the accused pleaded not guilty and claimed trial. The court fixed the matter for November 7 for commencement of trial by recording the testimony of the woman.
During the day, the court also heard arguments on the bail plea of Ratan, who was represented through advocate Rajiv Mohan. The accused is currently in judicial custody.

The court kept the bail plea pending as the woman was yet to be examined as prosecution witness and the forensic report was also awaited.
The court had earlier taken strong exception to Delhi Police's failure to file forensic reports on time "despite repeated warnings" and had asked why cost should not be imposed on it for such inaction.

It had noted that in its charge sheet filed last month, the prosecution had not included the CFSL report, saying the police seemed to pay no heed for speedy trial.
While filing the final report, the police had told the court that call details of the woman and the accused, fingerprint report and other CFSL reports pertaining to the case were pending and the agency was likely to file a supplementary charge sheet in the matter.

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The court while framing charges against Ratan said after going through the record and the complaint, it was clear that a threat was given by the accused that he would kill anyone who came in his way which had alarmed the woman.
"Therefore, this court is of the opinion that this statement in the complaint itself is sufficient to make a prima facie case for the offence punishable under section 506 of the IPC for criminal intimidation.
"Further, from the statement of the prosecutrix and other materials available on record, there is sufficient ground to frame charge against the accused for the offences punishable under sections 376 (rape)/506 (criminal intimidation) of IPC," the court said.