Mill rape trial will take less time than Nirbhaya case: RR

ID Parade In Call Centre Employee Case This Week

Sanjeev Shivadekar & S Ahmed Ali TNN

september 11,2013
Mumbai: The state government said on Tuesday that it will speed up the investigation in last month’s Shakti Mills photojournalist gangrape case so that the trial takes less time than the Nirbhaya case.
    In the case of a previous gangrape at Shakti Mills in which a call centre employee was brutalized in July, the city crime branch plans to conduct the identification parade of the four arrested accused in a day or two.
    Home minister R R Patil said the chargesheet in the photojournalist gangrape case will be filed in seven to 10 days.
    “Our aim is to fast-track the case, and get the verdict at the earliest,” Patil said. “We are trying to do it in less time than was taken in the Nirbhaya case.”
    The conviction of the accused in the December 16 Delhi gangrape and murder case came in about nine months.
    Chief minister Prithiviraj Chavan had also said the government would ensure a speedy trial in the photojournalist case.
    Patil’s latest assurance came more than two weeks after a similar statement; on August 23, a day after the crime, the home minister had said the chargesheet would be filed “very shortly”.
    There are three common accused in the photojournalist and the call centre employee cases. The police said the gang of rapists had eight members.
    The call centre employee gangrape, which occurred on July 31, came to light when the survivor reported it a few days after the gangrape of the photojournalist.
    Initially, the police had planned to take the custody of the accused and then conduct the identification parade.
    “As the four accused are already in jail, we will conduct the identification parade without further delay,” an officer said. “We want to wind up even the other case as soon as possible. Once the identification parade is done, the police will move court to get the custody of three of the accused—Salim Khan, Qasim Bangali and Vijay Jadhav, who are yet to be arrested in the call centre gangrape case.”
    A minor who is in juvenile custody in the case will also go through the parade this week.
    The police are hunting for the fifth accused, Ashfaque Shaikh.
    Patil rubbished allegations that local police officers had been aware of the goings-on in the mill compound and the vicinity.
    “As of now there is no evidence of any such thing, but if something comes up, we will definitely look into it,” he said. “No one will be spared.”
    The police are yet to receive reports of the samples collected from the crime scene as well as medical exhibits from the Forensic Science Laboratory in Kalina. Lab director Dr M K Malve said the “most important” DNA profiling report had been submitted. SCIENTIFIC TESTS TO NAIL ACCUSED
KALINA LAB SAMPLES | Biological-serological exhibits, blood samples of accused, clothes of both survivor and accused, nail clippings of survivor STATUS | Reports received establish DNA fingerprint match as well as DNA match from clothes samples HOW IT WILL HELP | DNA report is the most clinching and conclusive forensic evidence to establish the crime
GUJARAT LAB SAMPLES | Layered voice analysis (LVA), where psychologists study recorded statements of the accused frame by frame to detect deception and intention of deception STATUS | Report yet to arrive HOW IT WILL HELP | It is strong corroborative evidence
HYDERABAD LAB SAMPLES | Earth samples from the crime scene for comparison for pollen with clothes of accused and survivor STATUS | Report yet to arrive HOW IT WILL HELP | It is strong corroborative evidence; it helps establish that the offence took place at the said spot inside Shakti Mills
TIMES VIEW: All trials, especially in case of crime that shakes up society and becomes a talking point because of exceptional levels of cruelty and audacity, must be completed as soon as possible. And this should happen ideally when the crime has not gone off public memory. Only this can give a collective sense of catharsis.