Dec 16 gangrape: police seek to call bus owner as witness

Delhi police today approached a special court here seeking its permission to call the owner of the bus, in which a 23-year-old girl was gangraped by six accused on December 16, as a prosecution witness in the case.
Special Public Prosecutor Dayan Krishnan, in his plea before Additional Sessions Judge Yogesh Khanna, sought to call as witness Dinesh Yadav, owner of the bus in which the victim's male friend was also assaulted with an iron rod and later thrown on a road in south Delhi.
Besides Yadav, the prosecutor has also sought the court's permission to call Ramadhar, a carpenter who was allegedly robbed by the six after luring him into the bus.

"On review of the evidence, it is submitted that Dinesh Yadav..., the owner of the bus and the employer of accused Ram Singh (since deceased) as well as Ramadhar who is not a cited witness but is a complainant..., and a purported victim of the same accused persons, are required to be summoned as it is in our respectful submissions that not summoning them may be perceived as being unfair to the accused," Krishnan said.
He further said that in the interest of justice and fair trial, Yadav and Ramadhar be summoned as a witness.
The prosecution's move was, however, opposed by the counsel for accused Vinay Sharma, Akshay Thakur, Pawan Gupta and Mukesh -- who are facing trial for gangrape and murder of the victim, besides various sections under IPC.

According to the police, on the night of the incident, a female physiotherapy intern was beaten and gangraped in a bus in which she was travelling with her male companion, a software engineer.