Delhi rape case: Court allows plea to use CD as evidence

The Delhi high court on Thursday allowed the plea of December 16 gang rape accused to use as evidence a CD containing the interview of the victim's male friend given to a news channel.

Justice G P Mittal allowed the plea of accused Ram Singh and his brother Mukesh and set aside the trial court's order by which they were not allowed to exhibit the CD of the interview telecast on January 4, as a piece of evidence.

Justice Mittal directed the trial court to "permit the accused to use the CD as evidence".

The gang rape accused, in their plea, had challenged the trial court order which did not allow them to "exhibit, place on record and to play the impugned CD" on the ground that this was not an admissible piece of evidence.

The high court had reserved its verdict in the case on March 5.

Earlier, the Delhi Police had opposed the accused' plea, saying the media interview of a witness is inadmissible evidence under the law.

The police had objected to the plea of the accused to use the CD as evidence on the ground that it has been prepared in violation of a CrPC provision that restrains media coverage of the trial and inquiry proceedings related to a rape case.

On December 16 last, the 23-year-old victim was brutally gang raped and assaulted in a moving bus in south Delhi. She died in a Singapore hospital on December 29.

Besides bus driver Ram Singh and his brother Mukesh, the three other adult accused facing trial in the case are Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma and Akshay Singh. The sixth accused, who has been declared as a juvenile, is facing trial before the Juvenile Justice Board.

The trial court had on February 2 framed charges against the five accused under various sections of the IPC for offences which include gang rape, murder, attempt to murder, unnatural offences, dacoity, conspiracy and kidnapping.

The trial court is hearing in-camera proceedings in the case on a day-to-day basis and has imposed a ban under the law on the media from reporting the same.