DIDN’T SPEAK WITH IMPARTIAL ADVISER ON ‘GANGRAPES’: PROBE PANEL MEMBER IN HC

Haryana bureaucrat Vijai Vardhan, who was a member of the Prakash Singh panel, has approached the high court (HC) stating that he did not speak to court-appointed impartial adviser senior advocate Anupam Gupta on alleged Murthal rapes.

The panel examined the role of officials in violence during the February Jat quota agitation.

As soon as the matter began on Saturday, the Haryana government tried to rake up the issue and asked the court to take up the first application filed by Vardhan. “… you are accused of making a false statement before the court,” Tushar Mehta, appearing for Haryana, said, as Anupam Gupta retorted back stating that Vijai Vardhan was “lying to his teeth”. “I am not intimidated by them, (whether) state or SIT. I can defend myself (for what was said in court),” Gupta said.

Vardhan has stated in his application that he did not speak to Gupta about the alleged Murthal gangrapes and also that claims of Gupta that the chief minister scolded him up for speaking about the incident were also not correct.

PROSECUTE DELHI JOURNO FOR FALSE EVIDENCE: GUPTA

Upon perusal of special investigation team (SIT) report, which apparently stated that a Delhi journo created false evidence for his story on Murthal gangrapes, Gupta demanded that Tariq Anwar should be prosecuted for this act. The court has recorded Gupta’s statement. But neither state demanded nor the court gave any direction in this regard.

Although contents of the SIT report were not made public, the state told the court that Delhi journo created the story apparently under “pressure from his bosses”. He made a video with the assistance of his sisterin-law, who has confirmed the same. Anwar also has admitted before a magistrate that he made up the story, the state told the HC.

The Delhi journo, in a story for a Delhi-based portal, had claimed that he interviewed the mother of a victim who had narrated incidents of the February 22 night, when the alleged incidents took place. His article had created an uproar. The state was accused of not making efforts to nab perpetrators of crimes.