Chandigarh, December 15
The high-profile rape case involving the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) MLA
from Dhuri, Gaganjit Singh Barnala, took a dramatic turn today following
a volte-face by the victim.
The maid, who had alleged rape by the sitting MLA at his Sector 3 MLA flat, not only retracted her previous statements made before the police, but also feigned ignorance about the identity of the suspect.
On August 12, the Chandigarh police had arrested Gaganjit on the statement made by the maid who was admitted to the General Hospital, Sector 16, here.
Denying that she was raped by the MLA, the victim during the in-camera proceedings in the court of the Additional District and Session Judge (ADSJ), Mr Ravi Kumar, stated that she had suffered an abdominal injury after falling from her bicycle and thereafter she started bleeding.
She also did not corroborate her previous statements of being raped, as recorded by the police in the main challan and two supplementary statements. On being repeatedly asked by the court about any pressure forcing her to retract from her previous statement, she replied in the
negative.
Of the total seven prosecution witnesses summoned by the court, the statements of five witnesses were recorded today. The lady doctor, who attended on the victim on the day of incident, was not examined.
A weak prosecution, coupled with a lack of evidence, further weakened the case. Despite previous claims by the police of having video recorded the preliminary statement of the victim, no video CD was produced in the court. The investigating police officials also failed to produce the clothes, supposedly worn by the victim at the time of her alleged rape.
SI Subash Chander and ASI Sarabjeet Kaur, the two police officials at the Sector 3 police station, failed to answer any query posed by the defence counsel.
In the documents produced before the court, ASI Sarabjeet Kaur had stated that the preliminary statement of the victim had been recorded on a video camera.
They could not defend the glaring mistakes in the Medico Legal Report (MLR) pointed out by the defence counsel. The ASI told the court that the doctor attending on the maid had told her that the clothes worn by the maid had been kept outside the operation theatre. But the clothes were not taken in possession by the police.
Ms Manjeet Kaur Sandhu, the counsel for the victim, alleged that the maid had been influenced and the Crime Branch of Chandigarh police had played a crucial role in changing the course of the trial.
While talking to mediapersons outside the court, she alleged that the maid was forced to change her statement and that, too, in the presence of the security cover provided by the Punjab police at her Nayagaon house.
Interestingly, the maid’s counsel had got Rs 10,000 released from the Chandigarh Deputy Commissioner’s fund on compassionate grounds.
Mr A.S. Sukhija, counsel for Gaganjit Barnala, said the maid in her statement before the court said that after suffering the injury, she approached Suman, a maid at the MLA’s flat. She offered her a cloth before the MLA’s wife took her to the Sector 16 Hospital. “The victim also denied knowing the full name of the MLA,” he added. The next date of hearing has been fixed for January 29, 2007.
