HC relief for co-accused in 2016 Etah gangrape case
Staying the arrest of three co-accused in the 2016 Etah gangrape case in which the FIR was lodged only last year, the Allahabad high court has directed the IO to file his affidavit stating therein as to how he filed a chargesheet and concluded that the main accused former SP MLA Rameshwar Singh Yadav was in Etah when the rape took place, whereas attendance records of the legislative assembly show that he was attending the assembly session in Lucknow on that day.
Directing to list the case on August 14 for next hearing, a division bench comprising Justice Siddhartha Varma and Justice Ram Manohar Narayan Mishra in its recent order said, “The court, under such circumstances is curious to know as to how the investigation officer (IO) has submitted chargesheet against other co-accused persons. The investigation officer will also submit his personal affidavit by the next date of listing indicating in what manner he had concluded that the main accused Rameshwar Singh Yadav was at Etah on the date and time of the incident.”
During arguments, the counsel for the petitioner submitted that the petitioners Pramod Yadav and others are only co-accused who are not involved in the crime.
He further submitted that the victim is a ‘planted victim’ at the behest of some persons who are inimical to main accused persons namely Rameshwar Singh Yadav and Jugendra Singh Yadav. He said only to harass the petitioners and other accused persons, the FIR was lodged on November 7, 2023 regarding an event which took place as per prosecutrix on January 29, 2016.
“The evidence on record shows that the assembly had commenced at 9.30 a.m. on the relevant date i.e. January 29, 2016 and the incident is alleged to have taken place in the morning at 9.30 a.m. of the same date,” the counsel said.
“The distance, which parts Etah and Lucknow is 370 km and it is not physically possible for the main accused Rameshwar Singh Yadav to have reached Lucknow after commission of crime at 9.30 am,” the counsel added.