The woman executive identified her rapist Shiv Kumar Yadav in court on Thursday. Yadav employed with US-based cab service provider Uber is facing trial in the rape case that had sparked outrage in the national Capital. The trial commenced on Thursday. Her statement was recorded under Section 164 of CrPC before Additional Sessions Judge Kaveri Baweja in an in-camera proceeding.
The woman, who came to the court wearing a veil, appeared as the first prosecution witness in the case. Her deposition remained inconclusive and it will continue on Friday when she will be cross-examined by the counsel for accused Shiv Kumar Yadav. According to court sources, the woman while recording her statement identified Yadav as the one who had raped her on the night of December 5, 2014 when she had hired the cab and was returning home in Delhi’s Inderlok area.
Sources said the woman recorded statement before a magistrate under Section 164 of CrPC in which she had said that on the day of incident, after finishing her office work she had gone to Gurgaon for a party with friends and had booked an Uber cab for returning home. She boarded the cab, which was being driven by Yadav, from Vasant Vihar area and fell asleep in the car, she had told the magistrate, adding that when she woke up she found Yadav was also in the backseat with her and when she tried to raise an alarm, he slapped her repeatedly and threatened to insert a rod into her privates.
The woman had said that the car was stopped at a secluded place and Yadav raped her and dropped her home. The court had on January 13 framed charges against Yadav and ordered that the trial would proceed on a daily basis. The court had framed charges under various sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC) for alleged offences of endangering a woman’s life while raping
her, kidnapping her with intent to compel her for marriage, criminally intimidating and causing hurt. Police had filed the chargesheet 19 days after the incident on the night of December 5 last year when the 25-year-old victim, who was working for a finance company in Gurgaon, was headed back home. Earlier, Yadav had resorted to histrionics in court alleging that he would not sign the charge order sheet as arguments on framing of charges were not advanced in his presence.
later, after being assured by the judge that nothing wrong was being done to him and legal procedures were being followed by the court, he had agreed and gave it in writing that he was signing the order on charge of his own volition. Yadav had refused to undergo a test identification parade (TIP) saying the woman had already seen his photograph on Uber’s website and she would definitely identify him. TIP is a process under criminal law through which a victim of a crime identifies an accused.
As per the chargesheet, the woman had identified Yadav as the one who had raped her, when she was coming out of a courtroom in Tis Hazari district courts after recording her statement on December 8, 2014. Yadav was then coming out from another court where he was produced after his arrest. Yadav was arrested on December 7 from Mathura in a joint operation by Delhi and Uttar Pradesh police. In the chargesheet, police relied on forensic evidence and also placed on record the route map of the car in which the offence was committed.
Police had also told the court that Yadav was hired by Uber, and claimed that the firm had not verified his particulars. Police has lodged a case of cheating against the firm.