Dec 16 gang-rape: Juvenile claims innocence

The juvenile accused in the December 16 gang rape and murder of 23-year-old paramedic on Wednesday denied all the charges against him, claiming that he was not a participant in the horrendous crime.

Pleading innocence before the Juvenile Justice Board presided by Principal Magistrate Geetanjali Goel, the youth refuted the police version in the charge sheet of him being the "most brutal" of all the six accused persons.

He claimed that he was not a participant in the crime and has been "falsely implicated" in the case. The juvenile claimed innocence when the board put before him the evidence collected by the police. He said he was himself victimised by his employer and prime accused Ram Singh, who he said did not pay him for his work.

A native of Uttar Pradesh who moved to Delhi as an 11-year-old and took up menial jobs, the juvenile was one of the six accused persons arrested after the gangrape of the girl in a moving bus in which the victim's male friend was also assaulted.

The juvenile is facing trial before the JJB while the four adult co-accused are being tried before a fast track court. The board has recorded the statement of all the six prosecution witnesses against the juvenile. Meanwhile, the fast track court has also completed recording of statement of all the 80 prosecution witnesses.

The JJB has now fixed the matter for July 5 for final arguments. The paramedic and her 28-year-old friend were assaulted and beaten and the girl was repeatedly raped when they boarded a bus after a visit to the cinema. She died two weeks later in a Singapore hospital.

Ram Singh was found hanging in Tihar jail in March and the proceedings against him stand abated. Besides him, four adult accused facing trial in the case are -- Mukesh, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma and Akshay Thakur.

They have been charged with gang-rape, murder, criminal conspiracy, unnatural sex and robbery besides other sections of the Indian Penal Code and their trial is proceeding in a fast-track court on daily basis.