Team that probed Nirbhaya case to shoulder new responsibility

The officers, who were felicitated on Monday, will train their counterparts on framing charge sheets in complex rape cases

NEW DELHI, 08/05/2017: Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik felicitating the members of investigating team of Nirbhaya Case at Police Headquarter, in New Delhi on Monday evening . Photo: Sushil Kumar Verma.

Core members of the Delhi Police team that probed the December 16 gang-rape case will soon don a new role – that of training fellow officers on how to frame charge sheets in complex rape cases.

The team, comprising 41 officers, was felicitated by Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik on Monday, after the Supreme Court recently upheld the death penalty to four convicts in the case where a 23-year-old paramedic student was raped inside a moving bus in south Delhi in 2012.

Fetching praises

The team was also appreciated by the court for collecting “unimpeachable scientific evidence to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt”.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Rajender Singh, who was then an Inspector and a key investigator in the case, said they would now train their colleagues in drafting charge sheets in such sensitive cases.

Another officer said they had already held such sessions, which would be made into a regular exercise.

On the occasion, like other times, they remembered the nitty-gritty of the case. Mr. Singh said the brutality inflicted by the accused was itself used as evidence, with corroborations from doctors in Delhi and Singapore, where the victim succumbed to her injuries during treatment.

Mr. Patnaik lauded his men for “thorough and full-proof investigations”.

Hard work

“Not only did the officers crack the case in a record time, but they also followed it up with collection of scientific evidence, and systematic and painstaking work that led to the conviction in the case,” said the police chief.

The then Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (South), P.S. Kushwah, recalled how they always felt that they were “racing against time”. He said there were some women officers who had been designated to counsel the victim’s family and assure them that justice would be served.

Forging a bond

Their professional commitments aside, some officers said repeated meetings resulted in them forming familial bonds with Nirbhaya’s parents. “Her family was there when I lost my family members. Even on Sunday, her mother visited us. We have forged a strong bond,” said Anil Kumar Sharma, the then Vasant Vihar Station House Officer and the investigation officer in the case.