The Crime Branch of the Delhi Police have prepared a preliminary report into the alleged gang-rape of a girl by three PCR van cops, which was mentioned in the Justice Verma Committee report. Giving key leads to investigators, the prime witness in the case — a man now in his twenties and was a teenager when he witnessed the crime — has testified that the heinous crime took place in the Ridge area near Gole Market in the summer of 2000. He has also provided the investigators with the physical description of the three cops.
The report, now with senior authorities of the Delhi police, was prepared after the witness’ statement was video-recorded in the presence of an Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police rank officer. He reportedly stated that as a street child, he had seen three cops in a PCR van, a Maruti Gypsy, pick up the girl from near the Gole Market area during the summer of 2000 and took her to the nearby forest area. The cops later dumped her after raping her, he told the investigating team. The witness had narrated the alleged gang rape to the Committee members and his testimony was later made part of the 631-page report.
According to Indu Prakash Singh, who heads NGO SHELTER (Sustaining Housing, Health, Education & Livelihoods through Empowerment and Rights Intervention): “The entire video-recording took place in my presence and the identity of the witness was protected.”
Two boys saw it
“There were two boys who saw this entire incident when they were in their teens…one of them later shifted to Mumbai and died in a road accident. The prime witness has been consistent in his statement both in front of the Committee and the police. It is hard to disbelieve what he has been saying. I hope the Delhi Police would investigate this matter sincerely and bring the guilty cops to book,” Mr. Singh said.
When contacted, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) S.B.K. Singh said the identity of either the victim or the accused has so far not been established in the report which was submitted earlier this week. “With the details we have in the preliminary report submitted by the probe team, we cannot launch any legal action,” he said. Mr. Singh, however, said the police were not going to file any closure report as of now.
