IIT-BHU 'gang-rape': Varanasi court rejects accused's plea to cancel proceedings

Varanasi: An application filed by two accused in a fast-track court here on Monday to get the proceedings cancelled in the IIT-BHU gang-rape case was rejected by the judge, who has summoned the lone eyewitness for recording his statement on the next date of hearing on July 31.

Government advocate Vinay Singh said the survivor was present in the court through video-conferencing. Accused Anand and Saksham Patel submitted that the proceedings in the fast-track court should be cancelled as the high court is hearing a plea that has raised an objection to the victim's presence in court through video-conferencing and the next date of hearing in the matter is July 28.

Their plea was rejected by the court.

Singh said the court has summoned the lone eyewitness -- the survivor's friend -- for recording his statement on the next hearing on July 31.

The incident took place on the night of November 1, 2023. Following the incident, hundreds of Banaras Hindu University (BHU) students had held a protest on the campus and demanded that the entry of outsiders to the institute be banned.

According to the complainant, she had gone out of her hostel with a friend at night. They were near the Karman Baba temple when three men allegedly came there on a motorcycle, forcibly took her to a corner, gagged her after separating her from her friend and allegedly stripped her.

They also allegedly made a video of her and clicked photos. They let her go after about 15 minutes and took her phone number, the complainant had further alleged.

On the basis of the complaint, an FIR was registered under section 354 (assault or criminal force to a woman with intent to outrage her modesty) of the Indian Penal Code and under provisions of the Information Technology Act at the Lanka police station. Subsequently, the charge of gang-rape was added to the FIR, police said.

Three people -- Kunal Pandey, Anand alias Abhishek Chauhan and Saksham Patel -- were arrested in connection with the matter on December 31, 2023.