The fast track court hearing the December 16 gang-rape case on Wednesday held that accused Vinay Sharma was not assaulted in the Tihar Jail, as alleged by him almost two weeks ago. Sharma had claimed that he was assaulted by Tihar inmates leading to a fractured hand.
The court, however, said no such incident was seen in CCTV footage provided by jail authorities. “I have examined the CCTV footage provided by the Superintendent of Tihar Jail after allegations of beating made by accused Vinay Sharma. No such incident is seen in the said CCTV footage,” Additional Sessions Judge Yogesh Khanna said.
The judge passed the order after viewing the CCTV footage of Jail number 7, where the Vinay is lodged at present, after the accused appeared before the court with a fractured hand on April 5 and pleaded that he should not be sent back to Tihar. Vinay’s counsel AP Singh had then told the court that he was badly beaten up by cell inmates. The jail officials had, however, refuted the allegations that the accused was attacked in jail and claimed he was injured during a fight with one of the co-accused Akshay Singh in the van while returning to the prison from court.
The court, which has till date recorded statement of 65 prosecution witnesses took note of the conduct of the counsel of accused Mukesh, Ml Sharma who failed to appear before the court and was granted ‘last opportunity’ to cross-examine the prosecution witnesses. The court also inquired from Mukesh if he wanted to have a counsel from a legal aid, but he refused. While doing so the judge also considered appointing amicus curiae, who could assist the court in absence of defence counsel so as to avoid any delay in the trial.
Accused Vinay has also sought court’s permission that the gym owner, where he was working should be directed to give his pending remuneration of Rs6,500 to his family members as his parents are in need of it.
Meanwhile, a law student, Vibhor Anand, approached the court seeking its permission to attend the proceedings as he is writing a book on the incident of gang-rape and its trial. Vibhor and his father VK Anand were earlier representing accused Mukesh and his brother Ram Singh, who was the driver of the bus in which a 23-year-old paramedic student was allegedly brutally assaulted and gang-raped by the six accused persons, including a juvenile.