NEW DELHI: Father of the victim in the 2012 Chhawla gang rape and murder case has approached SC seeking review of its verdict of acquitting three death row convicts.
The convicts were acquitted by a bench of former CJI UU Lalit, Justices SR Bhat and Bela M Trivedi on November 7 on the ground that the prosecution failed to prove charges. The court had observed that the prosecution has to bring home the charges levelled against them beyond reasonable doubt, which the prosecution had failed to do so.
“It may be true that if the accused involved in the heinous crime go unpunished or are acquitted, a kind of agony and frustration may be caused to the society in general and to the family of the victim in particular, however, the law does not permit the Courts to punish the accused on the basis of moral conviction or on suspicion alone,” the SC had said.
Seeking review, the plea argued that the top court had ignored testimonies of material witnesses and did not appreciate that there was no gap left in the chain of evidence which pointed towards the guilt of the accused.
“There is an error apparent on the face of record as the SC has erred in not appreciating the testimonies of material witnesses which only direct towards the guilt of the accused persons and are incompatible with their innocence,” the plea had stated.
The plea also said, “The identity of the accused persons and their involvement in the heinous crime committed against the deceased victim has been duly proved beyond reasonable doubt".
Parents also contended that the court erred in observing that there is doubt in the prosecution’s story.