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Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday ordered the acquittal of three accused in the 2012 Chawla gang-rape case. The three accused were earlier sentenced to death by the Delhi High Court and the trial court.
The judgment delivered by a bench comprising Chief Justice UU Lalit and Justices Ravindra Bhat and Bela M Trivedi overturned the Delhi High Court verdict that had convicted three men for the rape and murder of a 19-year-old girl, according to Live Law.
The three men – Rahul, Ravi and Vinod – were accused of abducting the girl on February 9, 2012 while she was returning home from work. According to the prosecution, the woman worked in the Cyber City area of Gurgaon and was a resident of Uttarakhand He was returning from his work and was near his home when three men picked him up in a car.
When she did not return home, her parents filed a missing person’s report, the prosecution said, adding that the woman’s mutilated and decomposing body was found on February 14 in a village in Haryana’s Rewari.
Police found multiple injuries on the woman’s body. Further investigation and autopsy revealed that she was attacked with car tools, glass bottles, metal objects and other weapons. She was also raped and acid was poured in her eyes, they said.
Police arrested three people in connection with the crime and said the accused allegedly retaliated after a woman rejected his proposal.
The Supreme Court gave the verdict after hearing submissions by Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhatti, who sought confirmation of the death sentence, and amicus curiae senior advocate Sonia Mathur, who sought its reversal under the Live Act.
The trial court had earlier sentenced the three accused to death, calling the case “the rarest of the rare”, which was upheld by the Delhi High Court in its August 2014 verdict.
Lost the will to live, SC let us down: Victim’s parents
“We have not only lost the war, we have also lost the will to live,” said the mother of a Chhaola gang-rape victim, as she broke down after the Supreme Court’s decision to acquit the three accused.
The victim’s father said the Supreme Court had “let them down” and lost faith in the justice system after fighting for over 11 years.
He also complained that this system is taking advantage of their poverty.
“Even after 11 years, this verdict. We lost it… we lost the war… I was living with this hope… I lost my will to live. I thought my daughter would get justice,” tearfully cried outside the Supreme Court premises. Read the victim’s mother.
The victim’s father said, “What happened to the criminals happened to us in the end”.
“Our country’s law and order system is not for poor people. If this happened to a rich influential person or politician, would they have the same fate as us?” he asked.
(with PTI, live law input)
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