In a setback to the MBA student seeking a CBI probe into the alleged rape by three law students in a private university in Haryana, the Supreme Court on Thursday asked the victim to cooperate with the investigation being carried out by Haryana Police.
The Vacation Bench of Justices Prafulla C Pant and Amitava Roy, which asked the Haryana Police to submit a status report on the ongoing probe within 15 days, was informed by the Haryana Government that the investigation could not progress as the victim was not cooperating with the police and was yet to record her supplementary statement.
Senior advocate Indira Jaising, who appeared for the victim, protested that the probe related to circulation of nude pictures of the victim on WhatsApp which essentially is a cyber crime.
Till date no case under the Information Technology Act had been made out in the FIR. Noting the other material omissions in the probe, Jaising said that police lost too much of time to recover the mobile phones and laptops of the accused students.
Moreover, such crimes required technical expertise available with CBI.
The Bench said, “We are not against the CBI investigation. But, we want to know the progress made by police. If necessary, we will certainly transfer it (to CBI).”
The Bench asked Additional Solicitor General (ASG) PS Patwalia representing Haryana to file a fresh status report within 15 days and fixed the next date of hearing on July 8.
Patwalia pointed out that the victim was not coming forward to record a supplementary statement before the judicial magistrate. He informed the Court that a Special Investigating Team (SIT) constituted for this purpose was taking the probe forward with all seriousness.
It was on May 25 that the Court had sought response from the Haryana Government and CBI after learning about the incident involving a 21-year old MBA student.
The Court was more concerned by the fact that the accused were law students studying in their final year at Jindal University who would soon be lawyers.
The victim alleged that she was blackmailed by the accused who took her nude photographs and forced to her to get into physical relationship with them.
On the previous date of hearing, CBI indicated to the Court that it was open to probe the case and would require an order to this effect.