Bhopal gang-rape case: Recording of witnesses` statements begins

Bhopal: A sessions court on Tuesday started recording the statement of witnesses in the October 31 Bhopal gang rape case.

The hearing of the case has begun in-camera in the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Savita Dubey.

After advocate Zeenat Anwar, who was appointed by the State Legal Aid Authority to defend the four accused in the case, refused to represent them yesterday, another woman lawyer was today roped in by the authority to defend the accused.

The Bhopal District Bar Association had appealed its members not to defend the accused--Golu alias Bihari Chadhar (25), Amar alias Ghuntu (24), Rajesh Chetram alias Raju (26) and Ramesh Mehra alias Raju (45).

The four are accused of raping a young woman near Habibganj railway station here when she was returning home after attending a coaching class on October 31.

A delay by the police in registering an FIR in the case had caused much public outrage.

Describing the chain of events after the gang-rape as a "tragedy of errors", the Madhya Pradesh High Court had on November 13 directed the sessions judge to ensure that the case was heard on a day-to-day basis once the charge sheet was filed.

On November 16, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of police filed a 200-page charge sheet.

The survivor, daughter of a police couple, had to make rounds of different police stations to get her complaint registered as police officers quibbled over jurisdiction.

Following the public outrage, five police personnel were suspended, while three others, including two IPS officers, were transferred.