Durgapur gang-rape case: Lawyer of victim's classmate questions hasty submission of charge sheet by police

Kolkata, Nov 3 On the second day of the trial of Durgapur gang-rape case, the lawyer of the victim medical student's arrested classmate raised questions on the hastily submission of the charge sheet by the police.

He also sought information about the classmate's 'chat' conversation with the student.

Following the submission of the charge sheet by the police in 20 days since the incident, the gang rape case was transferred from the Durgapur Subdivision Court to the Additional District and Sessions Court.

After the hearing process began on Monday, the classmate's lawyer Shekhar Kundu asked why there was such a rush to file the charge sheet into the matter.

The lawyer also demanded CCTV footage of the police station after his client was arrested by the police.

He also asked for the footage of the Test Identification (TI) parade process.

"The electronic evidence that has been provided is missing from several parts. The full part must be given," the lawyer told the court.

He asked the court to provide these documents, citing examples of cases in other states.

Shekhar also asked for detailed information about the phone and chat conversations between the victim and her classmate before the incident.

He claimed, "The police hastily submitted the charge sheet due to media and political pressure."

In response, Special Public Prosecutor Bivas Chatterjee said, "We have given what was asked to be given according to the verdict of two different cases. There is no mention under which section the accused's lawyer has applied for the same. CCTV footage has been given. The recording of the TI parade is not credible to us. That is why it was not done. Instead, hard copies have been given."

The Public Prosecutor also added that the mobile tower location was given by the telecom company, which has been shared with the classmate's lawyer.

"We do not consider the CCTVs of Durgapur, New Township and Bijan Outpost to be credible in our investigation."

Bivas said: "The charge sheet is not yet complete. An additional charge sheet can be given within 90 days of submitting the primary charge sheet. They are waiting for several documents."

Meanwhile, the court has ordered the accused to be remanded in judicial custody for another day.

The judge said the accused will be represented by the district legal aid until they can find a lawyer.

The next hearing in the case has been set for Tuesday.

On October 10, the second-year medical student from Odisha was allegedly gang-raped by five persons in a forested area outside a private medical college and hospital in West Burdwan district's Durgapur of West Bengal.

Based on the complaint lodged by the victim, the police arrested all five accused persons in the case.

The police said that only one person was involved in the physical sexual assault of the medical student.

Later, the police arrested the classmate-cum-boyfriend of the victim with whom she had gone out on October 10 evening.

The male friend was arrested after investigators found inconsistencies in his response during police questioning.

On October 30, the police filed a charge sheet before the Durgapur Sub-divisional Court in the gang-rape case.

The charge sheet was submitted to the court 20 days after the incident.

The charge sheet includes a rape case against the medical student's classmate-cum-boyfriend.

At the same time, the charge sheet also includes gang-rape against the other three accused and extortion against the remaining two.

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