A city court on Wednesday fixed January 9 to hear the arguments on framing of charges against Shiv Kumar Yadav, the driver of US-based cab service provider — Uber — for allegedly raping a 27-year-old woman executive on the night of December 5, 2014. Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Kaveri Baweja, who is presiding a special fast-track court especially set up to deal with cases of sexual offences against women, listed the case for January 9. Accused Yadav (32), a resident of Mathura district of Uttar Pradesh, is now under judicial custody.
It may be recalled that a metropolitan magistrate had taken cognizance of the chargesheet filed by the Delhi Police in the case on Monday and committed the case to the Sessions Court for further proceedings. Meanwhile, advocate Atul Srivastava informed the court that he has been appointed as Special Public Prosecutor in the case.
The police officials of North district involved in the investigations also informed the court that one forensic report is awaiting. Yadav, who was driving the cab, had allegedly raped the woman on the night of December 5 last year when the victim, who works for a finance company in Gurgaon, was headed back to her home in Delhi’s Inderlok area.
Yadav was arrested on December 7 from Mathura in a joint operation by Delhi and Uttar Pradesh Police and produced before the court on December 8. The police had filed the chargesheet against Yadav on December 24 — 19 days after the incident, for alleged offences punishable under Sections 376(2)(m) (while committing rape causes grievous bodily harm or endangers life of a woman), 366 (kidnapping or abducting woman with an intent to compel her for marriage), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) under the IPC.
In the chargesheet, the police had relied on the forensic evidence and also placed on record the route map of the car in which the offence was committed. Yadav had refused to undergo Test Identification Parade (TIP), saying the woman had already seen his photograph in Uber’s website and she would definitely identify him.
TIP is a process under the criminal law through which a victim of a crime identifies an accused. The police had also told the court that Yadav was hired by Uber and it had not verified his particulars and they have lodged a case of cheating against the firm.