The Delhi High Court on Monday asked Deputy Commissioner of Police (North-East Delhi) to inform why a rape accused had not been arrested even more than one and a half years after the incident in Seelampur here.
Justice Kailash Gambhir asked the DCP to file an affidavit by November 18 giving a detailed explanation for the lapse on the part of the local police.
Justice Gambhir passed the direction while dismissing a petition seeking anticipatory bail in the case by the accused, Arif.
The accused in his petition said that the prosecution had framed him in the case as he was along with a Delhi politician at the time and the date of the incident alleged to have taken place.
Rebutting his contention, counsel for the prosecution said the accused could not be granted anticipatory bail as the charges against him were serious and the police had collected substantive evidence to prove them.
The forensic laboratory had also been able to match the DNA of the semen of the vaginal swab of the victim with that of the accused, counsel for prosecution further stated.
Justice Gambhir also pulled up the police for not arresting the accused for so long despite gathering prima facie credible evidence against him and also recording the statement of a relative of the prosecutrix in which she had charged him with outraging the modesty of the victim.
“It is shocking that the police had not arrested the accused despite the lapse of more than one and a half years after the incident and recording the statement of a witness under Section 161 of the Criminal procedure Code,’’ Justice Gambhir observed.
