Victims’ bodies shifted in Bilkis case

The prosecution in the Bilkis Bano gang-rape case on Wednesday argued before the trial court that bodies of victims were shifted from the place of the incident to another spot. The prosecution said that this was done to mislead investigating agencies and temper the investigation by showing that the place of the incident was elsewhere.

The prosecution’s case is that the convicts had gang-raped Ms Bano, then five-months pregnant and 19 years old, in Gujarat. Special public prosecutor Hiten Venegaonkar started his final arguments on behalf of the state after the defence completed its arguments. Advocate Venegaonkar on Wednesday told a division bench of Justice V K Tahilramani and Justice Mridula Bhatkar that the accused in this case have special knowledge about who had shifted the bodies of the victims. Hence, in the current situation, as per the Evidence Act, the burden to prove “who shifted the body” is on the accused.

He claimed that the prosecution has successfully proved with the help of evidence that bodies were shifted from the place of offence. The prosecution would continue its argument on Thursday.