While staying the arrest of three co-accused in the Etah gang rape case, the Allahabad High Court has directed the investigation officer to file his personal affidavit stating therein how he filed the chargesheet and concluded that the main accused ex-MLA of Samajwadi Party Rameshwar Singh Yadav was in Etah when the incident of rape took place, though according to counsel for the petitioners, ex-MLA was in assembly session at Lucknow on the date of incident.
While directing to list this case on August 14 for the next hearing, a division bench comprising Justice Siddhartha Varma and Justice Ram Manohar Narayan Mishra directed, “The court, under such circumstances is curious to know as to how the investigation officer (IO) has submitted chargesheet against other co-accused persons. The investigation officer will also submit his personal affidavit by the next date of listing indicating in what manner he had concluded that the main accused Rameshwar Singh Yadav was at Etah on the date and time of the incident”.
During the course of arguments, the counsel for the petitioner submitted that the petitioners – Pramod Yadav and others are only co-accused persons, who are not involved in the main crime. He further submitted that the victim is a planted victim at the instance of some persons who are inimical to the main accused persons namely, Rameshwar Singh Yadav and Jugendra Singh Yadav. He stated that only to harass the petitioners and other accused persons, the first information report (FIR) was lodged on November 7, 2023, regarding an event, that took place as per the prosecutrix on January 29, 2016. So this belated FIR was lodged after a period of seven years and ten months.
The petitioners’ counsel submitted that the main accused in the crime – Rameshwar Singh Yadav was a sitting member of the UP legislative assembly and on the relevant date was attending the assembly. In order to prove this fact, he brought on record the attendance sheet of the legislative assembly, Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow, and those sheets were filed in the writ petition.
“The evidence on record shows that the assembly had commenced at 9.30 a.m. on the relevant date i.e. January 29, 2016, and the incident is alleged to have taken place in the morning at 9.30 a.m. of the same date. The distance, which parts Etah and Lucknow is 370 km and it is not physically possible for the main accused Rameshwar Singh Yadav to have reached Lucknow after commissioning of the crime at 9.30 a.m.”, added counsel for the petitioners.
Taking the submissions of counsel for the petitioners on record, the court passed the above-mentioned directives and fixed August 14, 2024, as the next date of hearing.