Chhawla murder-rape case: Woman’s parents file review petition against SC’s acquittal order
The court had acquitted Ravi Kumar, Rahul and Vinod from the case, observing that the prosecution had failed to prove its allegations against them.
The parents of a 19-year-old woman who was gang-raped and murdered in Delhi’s Chhawla area in 2012 have filed a review petition in the Supreme Court against the acquittal of three men in the case, Live Law reported on Monday.
The Supreme Court had acquitted the three men – Ravi Kumar, Rahul and Vinod – on November 7. All three had been sentenced to death by a trial court in February 2014, and the verdict had been upheld by the Delhi High Court in August 2014.
The woman’s body was mutilated body and found three days after she was abducted in Delhi in February 2012. According to the police, one of the accused men had committed the crime to take revenge after she had turned down his proposal.
The parents of the woman, in the review petition against the acquittal, claimed that many crucial facts had not been brought to the Supreme Court’s attention. They also contended that DNA proof and evidence from the test identification parade of the accused persons had been wrongly interpreted by the Supreme Court, India Today reported.
The petition said that the mobile phone location of one of the men – and blood stains on his clothes – proved his involvement in the crime.
Last month, Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena had approved the filing of the review petition.
The Supreme Court, while acquitting the accused men, had said that the prosecution was unable to prove its case with respect to the arrest of the men, their identification and the recovery of incriminating material.
The court had said that no test identification parade had been carried out during the investigation and that a witness had not identified the accused persons.
“Every case has to be decided by the Courts strictly on merits and in accordance with law without being influenced by any kind of outside moral pressures,” a bench headed by former Chief Justice of India UU Lalit had said.
The woman’s parents had said at the time that the ruling was a huge blow to them.