During the video conferencing, arranged in special witness court, the woman supported the prosecution’s case and narrated the incident.The US national woman, who was allegedly raped by an auto driver at Kharar, during her visit to Chandigarh in 2015, testified in Chandigarh district court and even supported the Prosecution, but could not identify the accused in court.
The statement of victim was recorded in the Court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Poonam R Joshi via video conferencing arranged by Chandigarh Police Tuesday. The woman, meanwhile turned emotional and cried while deposing in court about the incident.
During the video conferencing, arranged in special witness court, the woman supported the prosecution’s case and narrated the incident. She came to Chandigarh in 2015 and was taken away by a auto rickshaw driver to his residence, where the accused auto driver and his accomplice raped her.
The woman stated that she came to India on tourist visa in 2015, to visit Haridwar and other places. She was scheduled to go to France thereafter. On the night of incident, she met the accused auto driver and asked his help for finding her a reasonable hotel room. Baldev, instead took her to Kharar at his friend’s room, where the accused and his accomplice committed crime with her. The accused then left her at ISBT in Sector 43 in the morning. The next day, the accused left for Haridwar and then left for France. After reaching France, she got her medical examination conducted and sent an email to the Chandigarh Police writing a formal complaint about the incident, along with the medical report.
While the woman was narrating the incident in court, she turned emotional and also cried twice. Meanwhile, when she was asked to identify the accused, Baldev Singh, in court, she could not identify him properly. The woman was also shown photographs of Baldev Singh at the time of his arrest in December 2017, however, the woman again being doubtful of the appearance of accused failed to identify him and stated that he may or may not be the same person. The prosecution statements and cross examination of the woman concluded Tuesday.
The case has now been scheduled for hearing on July 3 for further trial proceedings. The other witness, including the doctor who conducted the medical examination of the victim in France, are yet to record their statement in court. There are total 26 prosecution witnesses in the case as per chargesheet and the victim was the 10th witness in the case.
