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SC Judgement on Delhi Gang Rape

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
CRIMINAL APPEAL NOS. 607-608 OF 2017
(arising out of S.L.P. (Criminal) Nos. 3119-3120 of 2014)

Mukesh & Anr. …Appellants
Versus
State for NCT of Delhi & Ors. …Respondents

WITH
CRIMINAL APPEAL NOS. 609-610 OF 2017
(arising out of S.L.P. (Criminal) Nos. 5027-5028 of 2014)

J U D G M E N T
Dipak Misra, J. [for himself and Ashok Bhushan, J.]

The cold evening of Delhi on 16th December, 2012 could not have even remotely planted the feeling in the twenty-three year old lady, a para-medical student, who had gone with her friend to watch a film at PVR Select City Walk Mall, Saket, that in the next few hours, the shattering cold night that was gradually stepping in would bring with it the devastating hour of darkness when she, alongwith her friend, would get into a bus at Munirka bus stand to be dropped at a particular place; and possibly could not have imagined that she would be a prey to the savage lust of a gang of six, face brutal assault and become a playful thing that could be tossed around at their wild whim and her private parts would be ruptured to give vent to their pervert sexual appetite, unthinkable and sadistic pleasure. What the victims had not conceived of, it all happened, as the chronology of events would unroll. The attitude, perception, the beastial proclivity, inconceivable self-obsession and individual centralism of the six made the young lady to suffer immense trauma and, in the ultimate eventuate, the life-spark that moves the bodily frame got extinguished in spite of availing of all the possible treatment that the medical world could provide. The death took place at a hospital in Singapore where she had been taken to with the hope that her life could be saved.

2. The friend of the girl survived in spite of being thrown outside the bus along with the girl and the attempt of the accused-appellants to run over them became futile as they, by their slight movement, could escape from being crushed under the bus, and the appellants left them thinking that they were no more alive. Lying naked, as the clothes were removed from their bodies, they shouted for help and as good fortune would have it, the night patrolling vehicle, a motor cycle, arrived and the said man, Raj Kumar, PW-72, gave the shirt to the boy and contacted the control room from which a Bolero patrol van came and they brought a bed sheet and tore it into two parts and gave a piece to each of the victims so that they could cover themselves and feel civil. The PCR van took the victims to the Safdarjung Hospital where treatment commenced.

3. The present case is one where there can be no denial that the narrative is long, the investigation has been cautious and to bring home the charge, modern and progressive scientific methods have been adopted. Mr. Siddharth Luthra, learned senior counsel for the respondent-State, has made indefatigable endeavour to project that the investigation is flawless and exemplary; and Mr. M.L. Sharma and Mr. A.P. Singh, learned counsel for the appellants, have severely criticized it as faulty on many a score and that it is completely biased; and Mr. Sanjay R. Hegde, learned senior counsel, the friend of the Court, in his own way, has highlighted that the investigation is not only flawed but also unreliable which deserves chastisement and warrants rejection. Many facets of the investigation that pertain to recording of dying declaration, recording of statements of witnesses under Section 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), the medical examination, holding of the test identification parade, the manner and method of search and seizure and the procedure of arrest have been seriously commented upon. That apart, criticism is advanced from many a spectrum to strengthen the stance that it does not meet the standard and test determined by law. Needless to say, the factual score and the investigation have to withstand the test of reliability and acceptability. The appreciation of evidence brought on record requires to be appositely scrutinized to adjudge the fact whether the appellants are guilty of their culpability or there has been public pressure, as alleged, to falsely implicate the appellants or to treat them as guinea pigs to save others and accept the hypothesis that the prosecution has booked them at the instance of some political executives or to save a situation which a disturbed society perceives as a collective catastrophe on the paradigm of social stability and to sustain its faith in the investigation to keep the precept of rule of law alive. In essence, the submission is that the whole exercise, namely, investigation and trial, has been carried out with the sole purpose for the survival of the prosecuting agency. We have stated in the beginning that Mr. Sharma and Mr. Singh appearing for the appellants commenced their submission with all the vehemence and sensitivity at their command to strike at the root of the prosecution branding it as suspicious, absolutely unreliable, apathetic to the concept of individual dignity and engaged in maladroit effort to book the vulnerable and the innocent so as to disguise and cover their inefficiency to catch the real culprits. In the course of our deliberation, we shall dwell upon the same and keenly scrutinize the justifiability of the aforesaid criticism.

The Prosecution Narrative

4. Presently, we shall advert to the exposition of facts. The prosecution case, as projected, is that on 16.12.2012, the deceased, ‘Nirbhaya’ (not her real name), had gone with her friend, the informant, PW-1, to the PVR situated in Select City Walk Mall, Saket to watch a movie. After the show was over, about 8:30 p.m., they took an auto and reached Munirka bus stand wherefrom they boarded a white coloured chartered bus [DL-1P-C-0149, Ext.P1] which was bound to Dwarka/Palam Road, as a boy in the bus was calling for commuters for the said destination. As per the version of the informant, PW-1, the friend of the prosecutrix, the bus had yellow and green lines/stripes and the word “Yadav” was written on it. After both of them had entered the bus, they noticed that six persons were already inside the bus, four in the cabin of the driver and two behind the driver’s cabin. The deceased and the informant sat on the left side in the row of two-seaters and paid the fare of twenty rupees as demanded. Before they could get the feeling of a safe journey (though not a time-consuming journey), a feeling of lonely suffocation and a sense of danger barged in, for the accused persons did not allow anyone else to board and the bus moved and the lights inside the bus were put off. With the lights being put off, the darkness and the fear of the unexpected darkness ruled. A few minutes later, three persons (who have been identified as accused Ram Singh, Akshay and a young boy, who has been treated as a juvenile in conflict with law) came out of the driver’s cabin and started to abuse PW-1. The young companion of the deceased raised opposition to the abuse that led to an altercation which invited the other two who were sitting outside the driver’s cabin to join. The spirit to oppose and the duty to save the prosecutrix had to die down and perilously succumb to the assault by the accused persons with the iron rods that caused injuries to his head, both the legs and other parts of the body and the consequence was that he fell on the floor of the bus to hear the painful cries of the lady who, he knew, was being treated as an object, an article for experimentation and prey to the pervert proclivity of the six but could do nothing except to hear unbearable cries made in agony and pain. His spirit was dead, and bound to.

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5. As the prosecution story further unfurls, the two accused persons, namely, Pawan and Vinay, pinned the young man down and robbed the victims of their mobiles besides robbing the informant of his purse carrying a Citi Bank credit card, ICICI Bank Debit Card, his identity card issued by his employer-company, metro card, a sum of rupees one thousand, his Titan Watch, a golden ring studded with jewels and a silver ring studded with pearl, black colour Hush Puppies shoes, black colour Numero Uno jeans, a grey colour pullover and a brown colour blazer. As per the version of the prosecution, PW-1 was carrying two mobiles and the prosecutrix was carrying only one, and the accused snatched away all the three mobiles.

6. The overpowering was not meant to satisfy the avarice. As the accusations proceed, after the informant was overpowered, as it could only have a singular result, the accused persons, namely, Ram Singh, Akshay and the Juvenile in Conflict with Law (JCL) took the prosecutrix to the rear side of the bus and she was raped by them, one after the other.

7. After committing rape, the accused Ram Singh (since deceased), accused Akshay and the JCL came towards the informant, PW-1, and nailed him down; then the accused Vinay and accused Pawan went to the rear side of the bus and committed rape on the prosecutrix, one by one. PW-1 noticed that earlier the bus was moving at fast speed but after sometime, he felt that the speed of the bus was reduced and he saw that the accused Mukesh, who was driving the bus, came near him and hit him with the rod and he also went to the rear side of the bus and raped the prosecutrix. The prosecutrix was brutally gang raped by the accused one after the other and she was also subjected to unnatural sex. Her private parts and her internal organs were seriously injured by inserting iron rod and hand in the rectal and vaginal region. As per PW-1, he had heard the cries of the prosecutrix like “chod do, bachao”. PW-1 could hear the prosecutrix shouting in a loud oscillating voice. The prosecutrix was carrying a grey colour purse having an Axis Bank ATM card and other belongings. The accused persons robbed her of her belongings and stripped her. They also took away the clothes of the informant while beating him with iron rods. The accused were exhorting that both the victims be not left alive. The accused then tried to throw both the informant and the prosecutrix out of the moving bus from its rear door but could not open it and so, they brought them to the front door and threw them out of the moving bus at National Highway No. 8, Hotel Delhi 37, Mahipalpur flyover by the side of the road.

8. As indicated earlier, the prosecutrix and PW-1 were noticed by PW-72, Raj Kumar, who heard the voice of ‘bachao, bachao’ from the left side of the road near a milestone opposite to Hotel Delhi 37. PW-72 saw PW-1 and the prosecutrix sitting naked having blood all around. Immediately thereafter, PW-72, Raj Kumar, informed PW-70, Ram Pal, who was in the Control Room, requesting him to call PCR. PW-70, Ram Pal, of EGIS Infra Management India (P) Limited, dialed 100 No. and even asked his other patrolling staff to reach the spot.

9. About 10:24 p.m., PW-73, H.C. Ram Chander, who was in charge of PCR van Zebra 54, received information about the incident and the lying of victims in a naked condition near the foot of Mahipalpur fly over towards Dhaula Kuan opposite GMR Gate. PW-73 reached the spot and found the victims. He got the crowd dispersed and brought a bottle of water and a bedsheet from the nearby hotel and tore the same into two parts and gave it to both the victims to cover themselves. Travel to the Safdarjung Hospital

10. About 11:00 p.m., PW-73 took the victims to Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi. On the way to the hospital, the victims gave their names to him and informed that they had boarded a bus from Munirka and that after some time the occupants had started misbehaving and had beaten the boy and taken the girl (prosecutrix) to the rear side of the bus and committed rape on her. Thereafter, they had taken off the clothes of the victims and thrown them naked on the road. While leaving the informant, PW-1, in the casualty where he was examined by PW-51, Dr. Sachin Bajaj, and his MLC, Ext. PW-51/A, was drawn up, PW-73 took the prosecutrix to the Gynae ward and got her admitted there. The MLC of the prosecutrix,PW- 49/B, was prepared by PW-49, Dr. Rashmi Ahuja.

11. PW-49, Dr. Rashmi Ahuja, recorded the history of the incident as told to her by the prosecutrix and noted the same in Exhibit PW-49/A. As per the version narrated by the prosecutrix to her, it was a case of gang rape in a moving bus by 4-5 persons when the prosecutrix was returning after watching a movie with the informant. She was slapped on her face, kicked on her abdomen and bitten over lips, cheek, breast and vulval region. The prosecutrix remembered intercourse two times and rectal penetration also. She was also forced to have unnatural oral sex but she refused. All this continued for half an hour and then she was thrown off from the moving bus along with her friend.

12. The following external injuries were noted by Dr.Rashmi Ahuja in Ex. PW-49/A:
a) Bruise over left eye covering whole of the eye
b) Injury mark (abrasion) at right angle of eye
c) Bruise over left nostril involving upper lip
d) Both lips edematous
e) Bleeding from upper lip present
f) Bite mark over right cheek
g) Left angle of mouth injured (small laceration)
h) Bite mark over left cheek
i) Right breast bite marks below areola present
j) Left breast bruise over right lower quadrant, bite mark in inferior left quadrant Per abdomen:
i) Guarding & rigidity present

Local examination:

a) Cut mark (sharp) over right labia present
b) A tag of vagina (6 cm in length) hanging outside the introitus
c) There was profuse bleeding from vagina Per vaginal examination:
i) A posterior vaginal wall tear of about 7 to 8 cm Per rectal examination:
i) Rectal tear of about 4 to 5 cm., communicating with the vaginal tear.

13. As the evidence brought on record would show, 20 samples of the prosecutrix were taken and sealed with the seal of the hospital and handed over to PW-59, Inspector Raj Kumari. Registration of FIR and the progress thereon

14. At this juncture, it is necessary to state that after the victims were rescued, the informant, PW-1, Awninder Pratap, gave his first statement to the police at 3:45 a.m. on 17.12.2012 which culminated into the recording of the FIR at 5:40 a.m. being FIR No. 413/2012 dated 17.12.2012, PS Vasant Vihar under Section 120B IPC and Sections 365/366/376(2)(g)/377/307/302 IPC and/or Sections 396/395 IPC read with Sections 397/201/412 IPC. It was thereafter handed over to S.I. Pratibha Sharma, PW-80, for investigation.

15. On the same night, i.e., 16/17.12.2012, the prosecutrix underwent first surgery around 4:00 a.m. The prosecutrix was operated by PW-50, Dr. Raj Kumar Chejara, Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi and his surgery team comprised of Dr. Gaurav and Dr. Piyush. OT notes have been exhibited as Ex.PW-50/A and Ex.PW-50/B. The second and third surgeries were performed on 19.12.2012 and 23.12.2012 respectively.

16. During the period the prosecutrix was undergoing surgeries one after the other, and when all were concerned about her progress of recovery, the prosecution was carrying out its investigation in a manner that it thought systematic. The first and foremost responsibility of the prosecution was to find out, on the basis of the information given, about the accused persons. That is how the prosecution story uncurtains.

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17. On 17.12.2012, supplementary statements of PW-1 were recorded by PW-80, SI Pratibha Sharma. Based on the description of the bus given by PW-1, the offending bus bearing No. DL-1PC-0149 was found parked in Ravi Das Jhuggi Camp, R.K. Puram, New Delhi. PW-80 along with PW-74, SI Subhash Chand, and PW-65, Ct. Kripal Singh, went to the spot and found accused Ram Singh sitting in the bus. On seeing the police, Ram Singh got down from the bus and started running. The police intercepted Ram Singh and he was arrested and interrogated.

18. Personal search was conducted on Ram Singh and his disclosure statement, Ex. P-74/F, was recorded by PW-74 and his team. Based on his disclosure statement, PW-74, Investigating Officer, SI Subhash Chand, seized the bus, Ex. P1, vide Seizure Memo Ex. PW- 74/K. PW-74 seized the seat cover of the bus of red colour and its curtains of yellow colour. On the bus, ‘Yadav’ was found written on its body with green and yellow stripes on it. The Investigating Officer also seized the key of the bus, Ex. P-74/2, vide Seizure Memo Ex. PW-74/J. The documents of the bus were also seized. The disclosure statement of Ram Singh, Ex. PW-74/F, led to the recovery of his bloodstained clothes, iron rods and debit card of Asha Devi, the mother of the prosecutrix. PW-74, Investigating Officer, also recovered ashes and the partly unburnt clothes lying near the bus which was seized vide Memo Exhibit No. PW-74/M and Unix Mobile Phone with MTNL Sim, Ex. P-74/5, vide Memo Ex. P/74E. The Investigating Officer prepared the site plan of the place where the bus was parked and from where the ashes were found.

The arrest of the accused persons and seizure of articles

19. The arrest of accused, Ram Singh, also led to the arrest of two other accused persons, namely, accused Vinay Sharma and accused Pawan @ Kaalu. On 18.12.2012, accused Mukesh was apprehended from village Karoli by PW-58, SI Arvind Kumar, and was produced before PW-80, SI Pratibha Sharma. At the instance of accused Mukesh Singh, a Samsung Galaxy Trend DUOS Blue Black mobile belonging to the informant was recovered. On 23.12.2012, at his instance, PW-80 prepared the route chart of the route where Mukesh drove the bus at the time of the incident, Ex PW-80/H. Besides that, he got recovered his bloodstained clothes from the garage of his brother at Anupam Apartment, Saidulajab, Saket, New Delhi. He opted to undergo Test Identification Parade. In the Test Identification Parade conducted by PW-17, Sandeep Garg, Metropolitan Magistrate, PW-1, identified accused-Mukesh.

20. Accused Pawan was apprehended and arrested about 1:15 p.m. on 18.12.2012 vide memo Ex.PW-60/A; his disclosure, Ex.PW-60/G, was recorded and his personal search was conducted vide memo Ex.PW-60/C. In his disclosure statement, Pawan pointed out Munirka bus stand where the prosecutrix and PW-1 boarded the bus and memo Ex.PW-68/I was prepared. He also pointed at the spot where PW-1 and the prosecutrix were thrown out of the bus and memo Ex.PW-68/J was prepared in this regard.

21. Accused Vinay Sharma got recovered his bloodstained clothes, PW-1’s Hush Puppies leather shoes and the prosecutrix’s mobile phone, Nokia Model 3110 of black grey colour. Further recoveries were made pursuant to his supplementary disclosure. Similarly, accused Pawan Kumar got recovered from his jhuggi his bloodstained clothes, shoes and also a wrist watch make Sonata and Rs. 1000/- robbed from PW-1.

22. On 21.12.2012, accused Akshay was also arrested from Village Karmalahang, PS Tandwa, Aurangabad, Bihar. His disclosure statement was recorded. He led to his brother’s house in village Naharpur, Gurgaon, Haryana and got recovered his bloodstained clothes. A ring belonging to PW-1, two metro cards and a Nokia phone with SIM of Vodafone Company was also recovered from Akshay. Akshay also opted to undergo TIP and was positively identified by PW-1. The mobile phones of the accused persons were seized and call details records with requisite certificates under Section 65-B of Indian Evidence Act were obtained by the police.

23. After getting arrested, all the accused were medically examined. The MLCs of all the accused persons show various injuries on their person; viz., in the MLC, Ex.PW-2/A, of accused Ram Singh, PW-2, Dr. Akhilesh Raj, has opined that the injuries mentioned at point Q to P-1 could possibly be struggle marks. Similar opinions were received in respect of other accused persons. PW-7, Dr. Shashank Pooniya, has opined that the injuries present on the body of accused Akshay were a week old and were suggestive of struggle as per MLC, Ex.PW-7/A. MLC, Ex.PW-7/B, pertaining to accused Pawan shows that he had suffered injuries on his body which were simple in nature. The MLC, Ex.PW-7/C, of accused Vinay Sharma proved that he too suffered injuries, simple in nature, 2 to 3 days old, though injury No. 8 was claimed to be self inflicted by the accused himself.

Further treatment of the victim and filing of chargesheet

24. While the arrest took place, as indicated earlier, the victim underwent second and third surgeries on 19.12.2012 and 23.12.2012 respectively. The second surgery was performed on the prosecutrix on 19.12.2012 by PW-50, Dr. Raj Kumar Chejara, along with his operating team consisting of Prof. Sunil Kumar, Dr. Pintu and Dr. Siddharth. Dr. Aruna Batra and Dr. Rekha Bharti were present along with the anaesthetic team. The clinical notes, Ex.PW-50/C, and notes prepared by the Gynaecology team, Ex.PW-50/D, can be referred to in this regard. The prosecutrix was re-operated on 23.12.2012 for peritoneal lavage and placement of drain under general anaesthesia and the notes are exhibited as Ex.PW-50/E.

25. As the condition of the prosecutrix did not improve much, the prosecution thought it appropriate to record the statements of the prosecutrix. The said statements have been conferred the status of dying declaration. As is noticeable from the evidence, PW-49 also deposed that certain exhibits were collected for examination such as outer clothes, i.e., sweater, sheet covering the patient; inner clothes, i.e., Sameej torned; dust; grass present in hairs, dust in clothes; debris from in between fingers; debris from nails; nail clippings; nail scrapings; breast swab; body fluid collection (swab from saliva); combing of pubic hair; matted pubic hair, clipping of pubic hair; cervical mucus collection; vaginal secretions; vaginal culture; washing from vaginal; rectal swab; oral swab; urine and oxalate blood vial; blood samples, etc.

26. On 21.12.2012, on being declared fit, the second dying declaration was recorded by PW-27, Smt. Usha Chaturvedi, Sub-Divisional Magistrate. This dying declaration is an elaborate one where the prosecutrix has described the incident in detail including the insertion of rods in her private parts. She also stated that the accused were addressing each other with names like, “Ram Singh, Thakur, Raju, Mukesh, Pawan and Vinay”.

27. On 25th December, 2012, at 1:00 p.m., PW-30, Shri Pawan Kumar, Metropolitan Magistrate, went to the hospital to record the dying declaration of the prosecutrix. The attending doctors opined that the prosecutrix was not in a position to speak but she was otherwise conscious and responded by way of gestures. Accordingly, PW-30 put questions in such a manner as to enable her to narrate the incident by way of gestures or writing. Her statement, Ex.PW-30/D, was recorded by PW-30 in the form of dying declaration by putting her questions in the nature of multiple choice questions. The prosecutrix gave her statement/dying declaration through gestures and writings, Exhibit PW-30/D, the contents of which will be discussed later.

28. At this juncture, the cure looked quite distant. The health condition was examined on 26th December 2012 by a team of doctors comprising of Dr. Sandeep Bansal, Cardiologist, Dr. Raj Kumar Chejara, Dr. Sunil Kumar, Dr. Arun Batra and Dr. P.K. Verma and since the condition of the prosecutrix was critical, it was decided that she be shifted abroad for further treatment and fostering oasis of hope on 27th December, 2012, she was shifted to Mt. Elizabeth Hospital, Singapore, for her further treatment. The hope and expiration became a visible mirage as the prosecutrix died on 29th December, 2012 at Mt. Elizabeth Hospital, Singapore. Dr. Paul Chui, PW-34, Forensic Pathologist, Health Sciences Authority, Singapore, deposed that her exact time of death was 4:45 a.m. on 29th December, 2012. The death occurred at Mt. Elizabeth Hospital and the cause of her death was sepsis with multiple organ failure following multiple injuries. The original post mortem report is Ex. PW-34/A and its scanned copy is Ex.PW-34/B; the Toxicology Report dated 4th January, 2013 is Exhibit PW-34/C. In the post-mortem report, Ex.PW-34/A, besides other serious injuries, various bite marks have been observed on her face, lips, jaw, rear ear, on the right and left breasts, left upper arm, right lower limb, right upper inner thigh (groin), right lower thigh, left thigh lateral and left leg lower anterior.

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29. It is apt to note here that during the course of investigation (keeping in mind that the vehicle was identified), the investigating agency went around to collect the electronic evidence. A CCTV footage produced by PW-25, Rajender Singh Bisht, in a CD, Ex.PW-25/C-1 and PW-25/C-2, and the photographs, Ex.PW-25/B-1 to Ex.PW-25/B-7, were collected from the Mall, Select City Walk, Saket to ascertain the presence of PW-1 and the prosecutrix at the Mall. The certificate under Section 65-B of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (for short, “Evidence Act”) with respect to the said footage is proved by PW-26, Shri Sandeep Singh, vide Ex.PW-26/A. Another important evidence is the CCTV footage of Hotel Delhi 37 situated near the dumping spot. The said footage showed a bus matching the description given by the informant at 9:34 p.m. and again at 9:53 p.m. The said bus had the word “Yadav” written on one side. Its exterior was of white colour having yellow and green stripes and its front tyre on the left side did not have a wheel cap. The description of the bus was affirmed by PW-1’s statement. The CCTV footage stored in the pen drive, Ex.P-67/1, and the CD, Ex.P-67/2, were seized by the I.O. vide seizure memo Ex.PW-67/A from PW-67, Pramod Kumar Jha, the owner of Hotel Delhi 37. The same were identified by PW-67, Pramod Jha, PW-74, SI Subhash, and PW-76, Gautam Roy, from CFSL during their examination in Court. PW-78, SHO, Inspector Anil Sharma, had testified that the said CCTV footage seized vide seizure memo Ex.PW-67/A was sent to the CFSL through S.I. Sushil Sawaria and PW-77, the MHC(M). Thereafter, on 01.01.2013, the report of the CFSL was received.

30. As the prosecution story would further undrape, in the course of investigation, the test identification parade was carried out. We shall advert to the same at a later stage.

31. We had indicated in the beginning that the investigating team had taken aid of modern methods to strengthen its case. The process undertaken, the method adopted and the results are severely criticized by the learned counsel for the appellants to which we shall later on revert to but presently to the steps taken by the investigating agency during investigation. With the intention to cover the case from all possible spheres and to establish the allegations with the proof of conclusivity and not to give any chance of doubt, the prosecution thought that it was its primary duty to ascertain the identity of the accused persons; and for the said purpose, it carried out DNA analysis and fingerprint and bite mark analysis. Collection of samples and identity of accused persons

32. The blood sample of the informant was collected by Dr. Kamran Faisal, PW-15, Safdarjung Hospital, on 25.12.2012 and was handed over to SI Pratibha Sharma, PW-80, vide seizure memo Ex.PW-15/A by Constable Suresh Kumar, PW-42. Similarly, as mentioned earlier, PW-49, Dr. Rashmi Ahuja, had collected certain samples from the person of the prosecutrix which are reflected in Ex.PW-49/A from point B to B. All the samples were collected by Inspector Raj Kumari, PW-59, vide seizure memo Ex.PW-59/A and were handed over to PW-80, SI Pratibha Sharma, at Safdarjung Hospital in the morning of 17.12.2012. Also the samples of gangrenous bowels of the prosecutrix were taken on 24.12.2012 and were handed over to SI Gajender Singh, PW-55, who seized the same vide seizure memo Ex.PW-11/A. All the samples were deposited with the MHC(M) and were not tampered with in any manner. A specimen of scalp hair of the prosecutrix was also taken on 24.12.2012 by Dr. Ranju Gandhi, PW-29, and was handed over to PW- 80, SI Pratibha Sharma, vide seizure memo Ex.PW-29/A.

33. The accused were also subjected to medical examination and samples were taken from their person which were sent for DNA analysis.

34. DNA analysis was done at the behest of PW-45, Dr. B.K. Mohapatra, Sr. Scientific Officer, Biology, CFSL, CBI, and Biological Examination and DNA profiling reports were prepared which are exhibited as Ex. PW-45/A-C. The report, after analysing the DNA profiles generated from the known samples of the prosecutrix, the informant, and each of the accused, concluded that:

“An analysis of the above shows that the samples
were authentic and established the identities of
the persons mentioned above beyond reasonable
doubt.”

35. On 17.12.2012 and 18.12.2012, a team of experts from the CFSL went to Thyagraj Stadium and lifted chance prints from the bus in question, Ex.P-1. On 28.12.2012, PW-78, Inspector Anil Sharma of P.S. Vasant Vihar, the then S.H.O. of Police Station Vasant Vihar, requested the Director, CFSL, for taking digital palm prints and foot prints of all the accused persons vide his letter Ex.PW-46/C. Pursuant to the said request made by PW-78, Inspector Anil Sharma, the CFSL, on 31.12.2012, took the finger/palm prints and foot prints of the accused persons at Tihar Jail. After comparing the chance prints lifted from the bus with the finger prints/palm prints and foot prints of all the accused persons, PW-46, Shri A.D. Shah, Senior Scientific Officer (Finger Prints), CFSL, CBI submitted his report Ex.PW-46/D. In the report, the chance prints of accused Vinay Sharma were found to have matched with those on the bus in question.

36. Bite mark analysis was also undertaken by the investigative team to establish the identity and involvement of the accused persons. PW-66, Asghar Hussain, on the instructions of the I.O., S.I. Pratibha Sharma, had taken 10 photographs of different parts of the body of the prosecutrix at SJ Hospital on 20.12.2012 between 4:30 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. which were marked as Ex.PW-66/B (Colly.) [10 photographs of 5” x 7” each] and Ex.PW-66/C (Colly.) [10 photographs of 8” x 12” each]. PW-66 also proved in Court the certificate provided by him in terms of Section 65-B of the Evidence Act in respect of the photographs, Ex. PW-66/A. Thereafter, PW-18, SI Vishal Choudhary, collected the photographs and the dental models from Safdarjung Hospital on 01.01.2013 and duly deposited the same in the malkhana after he, PW-18, had handed them over to the S.H.O. Anil Sharma, PW-78. The same were later entrusted to S.I. Vishal Choudhary, PW-18 on 02.01.2013, which is proved vide RC No.183/21/12 and exhibited as Ex.PW-77/V. PW-71, Dr. Ashith B. Acharya, submitted the final report in this regard which is exhibited as Ex. PW-71/C. In the said report, he has concluded that at least three bite marks were caused by accused Ram Singh whereas one bite mark has been identified to have been most likely caused by accused Akshay.

37. It is seemly to note here that on completion of the investigation, the chargesheet came to be filed on 03.01.2013 under Section 365/376(2)(g)/377/307/395/ 397/302/396/412/201/120/34 IPC and supplementary chargesheet was filed on 04.02.2013.

 

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