New Delhi: Brajesh Thakur, who was sentenced to life imprisonment till his last breath for sexually assaulting several girls in a shelter home in Bihar's Muzaffarpur district, has approached the Delhi High Court challenging his conviction and jail term.
The high court is likely to take up this week his appeal seeking to set aside trial court's January 20 judgment convicting him in the case and February 11 order sentencing him to life imprisonment till his last breath.
A trial court here had sentenced Thakur to "rigorous imprisonment till the remainder of his life" and imposed a hefty fine of Rs 32.20 lakh on him, saying he was the "kingpin" of a "meticulously planned" conspiracy and "displayed extreme perversity".
Besides him, the trial court has also sent others to jail for life in the case.
Advocate Pramod Kumar Dubey, who represented Thakur before the trial court, confirmed that the appeal has been filed on his behalf.
Thakur, in the appeal, contended that the trial was conducted in a hurried manner by the special judge (POCSO), Saket, which was a flagrant violation of his right to a free and fair trial as guaranteed under the Constitution.
He claimed that his applications and submissions were dismissed in a mechanical manner without due application of judicial mind with a view to somehow conclude the trial.
The appeal, filed through advocates Nishaank Mattoo, Anurag Andley and Shreed Krsna, claimed that the conviction judgement and sentencing order were passed by the trial court in a prejudiced and mechanical manner having been swayed by the gruesomeness of the allegations levelled against Thakur and the public perception.
The appeal also raised the issue that potency of an accused is one of the foundational facts which the prosecution has to establish in a case related to rape and said neither the Bihar Police nor CBI had conducted the potency test of Thakur.
The trial court has failed to appreciate that in a case relating to rape, the prosecution must first and foremost establish that an accused is potent and thereby capable of committing the alleged act.
"The trial court has failed to appreciate that there is no presumption under law that a person who is more than 50 years of age and admittedly suffering from high blood sugar has to be potent. Without establishing the potency of the accused especially one who is more than 50 years of age the accused cannot be convicted of the offence of rape," it contended.
"The Special Judge, (POCSO), Saket while convicting the appellant (Thakur) has relied upon legally inadmissible evidence and has assumed the role of a prosecution witness by giving possible explanations which have neither been stated by the prosecution witnesses nor have been recorded in evidence and have further not even been argued by the prosecution during the course of final arguments," it alleged.