New Delhi, June 9 (H.S.): In the case of revealing the identity of a minor rape victim in 2016, statements from two witnesses were recorded on Monday in the Rouse Avenue Court against Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal and Bhupender Singh. Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Neha Mittal ordered that the next hearing of the case be held on June 30. During the hearing, statements of two witnesses, SI Jagaroshni and ACP Arun Chauhan, were recorded. During this time, the accused Swati Maliwal was not present. Her lawyer sought exemption from appearance in court, which was granted. The court issued summons for Inspector Santosh Chauhan and witness Virendra Paswan to appear on June 30 to record their statements.

On May 27, statements of three witnesses Amit Kumar, Arnim Agarwal, and Shailendra Singh were recorded. Earlier, on May 16, the complainant, Inspector Satyaveer Singh, was cross-examined. Satyaveer Singh's statement was recorded on May 8. The court had framed charges against Swati Maliwal and Bhupender Singh on April 28. On April 15, Swati Maliwal had filed a bail bond in court. On February 13, the Delhi High Court dismissed the plea to quash the FIR registered against Swati Maliwal in this case. Initially, this case was being heard in the Tis Hazari Court. Since Swati Maliwal is a member of parliament, the Tis Hazari Court transferred the trial of this case to Rouse Avenue Court on March 18. In this case, in 2016, the police of Burari police station in Delhi registered an FIR against Swati Maliwal and Bhupender Singh under Section 228A of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 74 and 86 of the Juvenile Justice Act. The 14-year-old rape victim and her mother accused them of kidnapping and sexual harassment.

On January 5, 2016, the victim recorded her statement before the magistrate under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code. The statement given before the magistrate was different from the one in the FIR. On this basis, the accused in the rape case was granted bail on January 12, 2016. According to the prosecution, after the accused in the rape case was granted bail, Swati Maliwal wrote a letter to the then Chief Minister of Delhi stating that the rape victim changed her statement out of fear, but no action was taken on this. Swati Maliwal's statement was circulated to all news channels by Bhupender Singh, the then Public Relations Officer of the Delhi Commission for Women, through a WhatsApp group. The information in the WhatsApp group revealed the identity of the victim. Based on this, Delhi Police registered an FIR against Swati Maliwal and Bhupender Singh.

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar