Unable to move ahead, the court then ordered a mental competency test to be conducted on the accused at a government hospital, after which the trial will be continued
In an unusual turn of events, a sessions court judge was unable to record the statement of an 84-year-old rape accused, as he was deemed unfit to answer the questions in the court.
Additional Sessions Judge at the Patiala House Court complex attempted to record the statement, but in reply to every question, the accused kept saying, "Mujhe kuch nahi pata, maine kuch galat nahi kiya (I don't know anything, I didn't do anything wrong)."
The accused had to be supported while he was standing in the witness box and could not even recognise the judge. He lives in a psychiatric clinic in south Delhi's Mehrauli area. He has a son and a daughter, both doctors, who live in the US. Before being shifted to the facility, the accused lived alone in his 2,000 sqft bungalow in Inderpuri, where the complainant worked as a maid.
When his defence counsel asked him if he knew about the charges framed against him, the accused kept saying he did not know anything. When, however, he was asked about his parents and other basic details, he replied properly.
Unable to move ahead, the court then ordered a mental competency test to be conducted on the accused at a government hospital, after which the trial will be continued.
According to court sources, the defence's submissions stated that in 2013, the son of the accused was in town and had fired the complainant after sensing that she had mala fide intentions. After his departure, however, she returned to the house.
Soon afterwards, she lodged a complaint in which she alleged that she was sleeping in her room when the then 81-year-old attempted to rape her. Her allegations were later recanted in the court.
After the incident, the accused was admitted to the Tulasi Psychiatric and Rehabilitation Centre. According to his domestic help Shankar, the accused had been lost and confused for the last few years.
"He wakes up in the middle of the night and says he wants to go home. He keeps repeating that his wife, now dead, is waiting for him and that he has to give her vegetables and flour," Shankar said. "He also uses very foul language. All the female staffers at the clinic avoid him," he added.
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