Hearings adjourned in Dec. 16 gangrape and robbery cases

Hearings in the Dec. 16 gangrape and robbery cases were today adjourned after the accused failed to appear at separate courts here due to the non-availability of policemen ahead of Independence Day.
Additional Sessions Judge Yogesh Khanna, who is holding the trial in the gangrape case, fixed the matter for hearing tomorrow after being informed by police that the accused could not be brought to the Saket court complex as there were not enough security personnel to escort them from Tihar jail.
Ahead of Independence Day celebrations, cops and other paramilitary personnel were deployed in and around the national capital, the court was informed.

A similar reason prevented proceedings from going on in the robbery case in the court of Additional Sessions Judge Daya Prakash at the Patiala House complex.
In the gangrape trial, the court was recording the statements of prosecution witnesses who are countering the claims of the accused Vinay Sharma and Pawan Gupta that they were not in the bus in which the victim was allegedly gangraped by six persons.
The duo say they were at a DDA park to participate in a music function organised by a church at the time when the crime took place.

However, a DDA official, who will be cross-examined tomorrow, and two members of the church, have contended that neither the civic agency nor the church had organised any function in the park on Dec. 16 night.

According to the prosecution, Ram Singh, Akshay Thakur and Mukesh, along with Vinay and Pawan, had allegedly gangraped the girl on a moving bus.
The victim, who was also assaulted by the alleged rapists, succumbed to her injuries last year on Dec. 29 while undergoing treatment at a Singapore hospital.