Court accepts plea to call witnesses in similar case

Chandigarh, October 18

In the 2016 auto gang-rape case, a local court has summoned two witnesses of an identical case, which was registered a year later having the same accused. 

The prosecution had moved an application under Section 311 of the CrPC, which was accepted by the court. The doctor and the record keeper who deposed in the 2017 auto gang-rape case have now been summoned on October 30, the next date of hearing in the 2016 case.

Mohammad Irfan, an accused in the current case, has already been convicted in the identical case of 2017 and is serving life term for the crime. 

The application was moved after the owner of the auto-rickshaw used in the crime told the court that the same vehicle was used in both the cases. He had rented it to Irfan but claimed to be unaware of his activities. 

A 21-year-old BA student, who worked at a call centre, was returning home from work when she was raped in Sector 29 in December 2016. She had hired the auto-rickshaw from Sector 34 to Hallo Majra, which already had the accused. The accused, Irfan and Kamal Hassan, had stopped the vehicle near a slip road in Sector 29 saying that it had broken down. They then pushed her into the forest area nearby where they allegedly took turns to rape her. — TNS