Srinagar sex scandal: CBI to produce victim's age proof

Chandigarh, Nov 10 (UNI) Punjab and Haryana High Court today directed the CBI to produce on Monday next the Srinagar sex scandal rape victim's school certificate in original to confirm the claim that she was a minor at that time.

Justice Rajive Bhalla gave the direction after the counsel of the central investigating agency stated that the proof of age of the victim was lying at the CBI headquarters in New Delhi.

The direction came shortly before the conclusion of arguments for the day by CBI standing counsel Rajan Gupta on a bunch of writ petitions, wherein nine of the total 14 accused, including former minister Raman Mattoo and BSF DIG K G Padhi, have sought bail.

The accused are lodged in the Burail central jail here since the trial of the case was transferred to Chandigarh on orders of the Supreme Court.

The CBI counsel maintained that the victim was a minor.

During the time of finalisation of the chargesheet in the case, the CBI found the upper kindergarten (UKG) admission certificate, bearing her date of birth, conclusively proved that she was below 16 years even as of date, he said.

At the outset, the CBI counsel showed the orders of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court favouring coded version of statements of witnesses and not to include the unverified portions in the chargesheet to explain why some parts of the chargesheet had been left blank.

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