New Delhi: A court on Monday dismissed the application filed by father of one of the death-row convicts in the Nirbhaya case, questioning the credibility of the sole witness and claiming that he was tutored and his statement was not credible.
The plea was heard by Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sudhir Kumar Sirohi.
The complaint, filed by Heera Lal Gupta, father of Pawan Kumar Gupta, cited some recent media reports which alleged that the witness charged money to appear for interviews on various news channels, advocate AP Singh said.
The sole eye-witness, who was a friend of the 23-year-old victim, was accompanying her in the bus when the gruesome incident took place and he had also sustained injuries.
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"This calls for an independent investigation into the perjury that appears to have been committed by him (witness), being the sole witness, his testimony has strongly influenced the outcome of the case which led to the imposition of death penalty of the accused," the complaint said.
Citing the media reports, advocate Singh stated that "On the basis of said facts and circumstances, it is clear that the conduct of him clearly shows that his testimony was false and fabricated...This goes to the root of his testimony and if established would show that the testimony is in fact false".
A 23-year-old woman was gang-raped and tortured on December 16, 2012, which led to her death. All the six accused were arrested and charged with sexual assault and murder.
One of the accused was a minor and appeared before a juvenile justice court, while another accused committed suicide in Tihar Jail.
Four of the convicts were sentenced to death by a trial court in September 2013, and the verdict confirmed by the Delhi High Court in March 2014 and upheld by the Supreme Court in May 2017, which also dismissed their review petition in July 2018.
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