Patan gangrape victim fails to appear for trial

Patan, Jul 1 (UNI) Trial in the Patan multiple gangrape case against six teachers was today postponed to July 3 as the victim could not appear in court due to an illness.

The trial was scheduled to begin today before a fast track court Judge, S C Srivastava, here. The victim's advocate informed the court that she was admitted to the Civil Hospital, Ahmedabad.

However, the defence lawyers objected to the oral submission about the absence of the victim and said the complainant should have produced a medical certificate while showing her inability to appear in the trial.

Justice Srivastava asked the prosecutor to submit a medical certificate to this effect if the victim fails to appear before the court on July 3. The Fast Track court had summoned the victim for examination-in-chief on the first day of the trial.

The victim, presently in the custody of an NGO at Ahmedabad following a court order, had fainted after her parents visited the NGO office last Saturday and she was rushed to the Civil Hospital, where she is undergoing treatment. The court had allowed her to be in custody of the NGO after she charged her father with exploiting the situation. She had told the Court that her father was interested in money and wanted her to change her stand in the case, which has rocked the state.

The victim was repeatedly raped by six of her teachers in the Primary Teachers College, Patan, last year and the incident came to light in the first week of February this year.

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