Bhopal: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the Bhopal gang-rape case said in the chargesheet filed on Thursday that a feud over jurisdiction between two police stations led to a delay in the registration of the FIR.
The 200-page chargesheet, along with the DNA reports of the four men accused of raping the 19-year-old civil service aspirant on October 31, was submitted to the district court.
Public prosecutor KK Saxena told News18 that the chargesheet mentions police slackness after the incident and also the fact that the victim was made to run from one police station to another for lodging her complaint.
He said the chargesheet carries all the documentary evidence, including the medical examination report of the victim and forensic evidence.
The chargesheet also has details of identification parade of the accused and the girl’s statement recorded under section 164, said Saxena, adding that the statement of the victim and evidences found on the crime scene hold vital importance in the case.
“It was revealed during investigation that two police stations had a feud over jurisdiction issue as they were not able to ascertain the crime scene fell under which police station,” said Saxena.
The SIT’s chargesheet also contained statements of 37 eyewitnesses, including police officers, doctors and others.
As Bhopal bar association had decided it would not represent the accused in the case, the court made available two lawyers from District Legal Service Authority. The accused have been charged with abduction, physical violence, attempt to destroy evidence, besides sexual assault.
Lawyers representing the SIT and government said that they would seek life imprisonment and hoped that charges would be framed by Monday. They also requested the court for day-to-day trial.
The chargesheet was filed on the last day of the 15-day deadline given by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Taking strong objection over the delay, he had ordered action against the guilty police officers and also ordered that the case be presented in a fast-track court. The stipulated time for filing a chargesheet in a criminal case is 90 days.
The accused had allegedly raped the woman near the Habibganj railway station when she was returning home after attending a coaching class on October 31, according to the police.
The survivor, daughter of a police couple, had to make rounds of different police stations to get her complaint registered as police officers feuded over jurisdiction.
After a public outrage over the delay in filing an FIR, five police personnel were suspended, while three others, two of them from the IPS cadre, were transferred.
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