Docs depose in 5-yr girl’s rape trial

A city court on Saturday examined three government hospital doctors who had treated and extracted some foreign objects from the body of a five-year-old girl raped allegedly by two youth here in Gandhi Nagar, east Delhi. Additional sessions judge Sanjay Garg recorded the statements of prosecution witnesses, Swami Dayanand Hospital’s Dr Sunita Fotedar, head of gynaecology department, Dr Shefali, gynaecologist, and Dr Manish Gupta, chief medical officer. Accused Manoj Shah and Pradeep Kumar, now in judicial custody, are accused of raping the girl on April 15 in Gandhi Nagar, east Delhi. The child was rescued 40 hours later on April 17. The accused had fled after committing the crime, leaving the girl behind in Manoj’s room believing her to be dead. They were later arrested from Bihar. Dr Sunita told the court that the minor was admitted in the hospital on April 17 and on the next day, she and her team had taken out foreign material — three pieces of a candle and one hair oil bottle — from the body of the victim. Dr Shefali said that on the instructions of Dr Sunita, she had prepared the clinical notes of MLC of the victim. Dr Manish said he had examined the child on April 17 and had prepared her medical report and referred the case to the doctors of other concerned departments. All the three witnesses were cross-examined by the counsel for accused, advocate R.S. Juneja. Earlier, the court had recorded the statements of the child and her parents. The minor’s testimony was recorded through video conferencing. The court had earlier framed charges of raping a minor, unnatural offence, kidnapping, attempt to murder, destruction of evidence and wrongful confinement with common intention under the IPC against the two accused. It also framed charges of aggravated sexual assault under the newly-enacted Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act which entails a maximum punishment of life term. Charges of rape and unnatural offence were slapped against the two accused by the court as these two sections were not invoked by the police in its chargesheet.