Charge sheet against six in Alwar gang rape

ALWAR: Rajasthan police filed a 500-page charge sheet in a special court on Saturday against five men accused of the April 26 gang rape of a Dalit woman in front of her husband, and a sixth who filmed the act and put up the recording on social media.

The charge sheet was filed in the special court that deals with cases under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act two days after Congress president Rahul Gandhi met the rape survivor and promised her justice.

The six men were charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Information Technology (IT) Act. The court will take up the charge sheet for scrutiny on May 22, the next date of hearing.

Alwar superintendent of police (SP) Parish Anil Deshmukh told journalists that all the evidence had been collated in the 500-page charge sheet, which named 35 witnesses. Oral and technical evidence, video recordings and biological evidence were mentioned in the charge sheet. A voice test was done on a suspect who made a threatening call.

All the suspects have been arrested. A political slugfest erupted over the incident as the Congress government in Rajasthan has faced criticism over lack of prompt action in the case.

Rajasthan police allegedly delayed the filing of a First Information Report (FIR), which was registered only after a purported video of the sexual assault began circulating on social media.

The case triggered widespread protests in the state after the rape survivor’s husband said they had approached police on April 30 to file an FIR but the police asked them to wait until the Lok Sabha elections were over.

The FIR was eventually filed on May 7, a day after the second and last phase of voting for the Lok Sabha elections in Rajasthan.