New Delhi: A Delhi sessions court on Monday dismissed the application challenging recent magisterial order that rejected the plea questioning the credibility of the sole witness in the Nirbhaya gangrape and fatal assault case, claiming he was tutored and his statement was not credible.
Additional Sessions Judge A.K. Jain pronounced the order on the plea filed on Thursday by Heera Lal Gupta, father of Nirbhaya death-row convict Pawan Gupta.
On January 6, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sudhir Kumar Sirohi had dismissed the application of the convict’s father questioning the credibility of the sole eyewitness in the case.
The complaint cited some recent media reports that alleged the witness charged money to appear for interviews on news channels, advocate A.P. Singh said.
The eyewitness, a friend of 23-year-old victim, was accompanying her in the bus when the incident took place. He had also sustained injuries.
“This calls for an independent investigation into the perjury that appears to have been committed by him (witness), as being the sole witness his testimony has strongly influenced the outcome of the case leading to death penalty,” the complaint said.
While citing the media reports, the advocate said, “On the basis of said facts and circumstances, it’s clear his testimony was false and fabricated. This goes to the root of his testimony. If established, it would show that the testimony is false.”
The victim was gangraped and tortured on December 16, 2012, which led to her death. All the six accused were arrested and charged with sexual assault and murder. One of the accused, a minor, appeared before a juvenile justice court, while another committed suicide in Tihar Jail.
Four convicts were sentenced to death by a trial court in September 2013. The verdict was confirmed by the Delhi High Court in March 2014 and upheld by the Supreme Court in May 2017, which also dismissed their review petition in July 2018.
