Zeenews Bureau
New Delhi: A day after the friend of the Delhi gang-rape victim broke silence since the gang-rape incident and slammed police for their late response, the authorities on Saturday came out in their defence.
Addressing mediapersons, Joint Commissioner of Police (South West range) Vivek Gogia gave the details of police response on that horrific night.
The 28-year-old, who is a software engineer, had claimed in an interview to Zee News that three PCR (Police Control Room vans) came and started arguing over their jurisdiction. “They could not decide the jurisdiction of station area under which the case falls," he said.
Defending police’s response, Gogia, citing the electronic logs, said they received a call at 10:21 pm to report that two people, including a woman, were lying on the road in a pool of blood. The call was then transferred to PCR van at 10:24 pm. Patrolling vans Eagle 42 and Zebra 54 reached the site at 10:27 pm and 10:29 pm respectively. According to the JCP (South West range), Zebra 54 left the site and took the duo to hospital at 10:39 pm. The PCR van took 16 minutes to reach the hospital, according to police. All records were as per GPS (Global Positioning System).
On the claim that the police kept fighting about jurisdiction while the duo lay on the road, Gogia said there was no such argument.
Recounting the events of that fateful night, the victim’s friend had said that it took them over two hours to reach Safdarjung Hospital from Mahipal where the duo were thrown off the bus. Stating their stand on this, Gogia said the victim is to be taken to the notified, designated multi-disciplinary hospital and accordingly, the two were taken to Safdarjung Hospital.
During the interview, the victim’s friend had also claimed that he was not given proper treatment. He was in the police station when he should have been in hospital for his treatment. Commenting on this, Gogia said the 28-year-old software engineer was taken to police station to record the statement only after he received first aid. He was further accommodated in private accommodation, the expenses of which were met by police, added Gogia.
On the allegation made by the braveheart’s friend that police were seeking appreciation, Gogia said the engineer was told developments of the case as per police’s stated policy to comfort and keep him updated. “We were just doing our duty,” he added.
The young woman was tortured and gang-raped by six men in the moving bus on December 16. She was stripped, robbed and then thrown off the bus by the roadside along with her friend on the cold December night.
She was taken to a Singapore hospital where she died on December 29. She was quietly cremated on December 30. All the six accused, including a juvenile, are now in custody.
First Published: Saturday, January 05, 2013, 15:58