Hindu College gangrape case: Court acquits guard, six others

A college guard and six others, accused of gangraping a minor girl inside the premises of the institution in 2006, were on Tuesday acquitted by a Delhi court.

Additional Sessions Judge Pawan Kumar Matto absolved the seven men of the charges of kidnapping and gangraping the 16- year-old girl in the Hindu College premises under the IPC. All the seven men were granted bail by the court in 2008 during pendency of the trial. Two of them are in custody in some other case.

According to the prosecution, the accused had allegedly kidnapped the girl while she was going to purchase medicines in a North Delhi colony on the evening of May 1, 2006. It said that three of the accused had allegedly took her to a room in a building in Sabzi Mandi area where another co-accused joined them and forced her to take sedative-laced cold drink, before raping her.

The girl was later taken to the Delhi University's Hindu College lawns where other co-accused, including the college security guard, joined them and again raped her, the prosecution had alleged. The accused were arrested following a hue and cry in the media.

Advocates Amit Kumar and R K Mishra, appearing for all the accused, had argued before the court that there was no evidence on record which could connect the accused person with the crime. They also contended that there were discrepancies and contradictions in the testimonies of the witnesses.

The girl had claimed to be 16-years old at the time of the incident while the doctors had opined her age to be between 18 to 20 years, they had said.