New Delhi: A Delhi court on Monday commenced
final arguments on Mirchpur violence in which a 70-year-old
Dalit was burnt alive along with his physically challenged
daughter allegedly by dominant Jat community people last year.
Additional Sessions Judge Kamini Lau began hearing
final arguments in the case on day-to-day basis.
The court had earlier said that if the prosecution and
defence counsel are able to conclude their arguments by first
week of July, then the case would be listed for clarifications
thereafter and it would pronounce the final order on July 23.
BS Rana, counsel appearing for accused said it is not
a fit case of section 302 (murder) of IPC as none of the
witnesses, during examination, took the name of any particular
person who put the houses on fire on the day of incident.
"Even the dying declaration of deceased Tara Chand is
not trustworthy as the police itself said that the statement
was first written by a sub inspector, who did not take
victim`s fitness certificate from the doctor," Rana argued.
The defence counsel also said that the signatures of
Amar Lal, son of Tara Chand, does not match.
"Amar Lal`s signatures on his father`s dying
declaration and on his statements are different and does not
match," Rana said.
He further argued that Rajendra Pali, the key accused
in the case, was not in town when the incident took place.
Rajendra was at Jind in Haryana with one of his
relatives who was injured in incident which took place a day
before between members of Dalit and Jat community, he said.
"It is clear from Rajendra`s call details that on the
day of incident, he was in Jind and not in Mirchpur. Then how
can he be involved in the said killings," the counsel said.
The court, on June 23, had examined Amar Lal as a
court witness and he had deposed that on the fateful day of
April 21, 2010, a 400-strong mob of Jats had descended on the
village, armed with stones, in rickshaws and carts and
attacked the villagers who were barely out of their beds.
Out of 103 accused in the case, 96 are lodged in Tihar
Jail after being transferred from Hissar jail on the apex
court`s direction. Five are juveniles, one is out on bail and
one had escaped from the custody.
The Supreme Court had last year transferred the case
to the special court here designated under the SC/ST
(Prevention of atrocities) Act, 1989 to ensure a free and fair
trial.
PTI
