Delhi gangrape case: Danish woman appears in court, identifies accused

The Danish woman is said to have identified 24-year-old accused Mahendra as the one who had threatened her with a knife when another man was raping her.

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Delhi gangrape case: Danish woman appears in court, identifies accused
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Showing immense nerve and presence of mind, a 52-year-old Danish woman unsuccessfully tried last January to mislead her would-be rapists into believing that she was infected with HIV. She pleaded with them to let her go without sexually assaulting her lest it put them at the risk of contracting AIDS.

The rape survivor, who was gangraped near the New Delhi Railway Station on January 14, 2014, flew into India 18 months after the tragedy to record her statement at a lower court in the Capital on Wednesday.

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A Danish police officer and a woman doctor, who carried out the investigation and the medical examination back home, are accompanying the survivor. They will record their statements in the court on Thursday.

The hearing, which took place at Tis Hazari courts on Wednesday morning, saw her recall the ill-fated day's developments.

Public prosecutor Atul Shrivastava told Mail Today: "While recording her statement, the survivor had initially identified four accused. Soon after, however, she said that she was sure about the involvement of only three of them as she had come to India after a long time. During the five-hour-long proceedings, when she was also cross-examined by the defence counsel, she broke down twice."

The Danish woman is said to have identified 24-year-old accused Mahendra as the one who had threatened her with a knife when another man was raping her. "After raping her, one of the accused provided her a pair of trousers to wear back to the hotel," he added.

The evidence produced in the court - including her bag, iPhone, iPod, glasses with the cover, earphones and a guide book - were identified by the survivor, Shrivastava said.

On January 1, 2014, the Danish woman landed in Delhi with the aim of travelling across the country. She left immediately after for Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, and returned to Delhi on January 13 and stayed at a hotel in Paharganj.

LOST HER WAY

At 9.30 am the following day, she left the hotel to visit the National Museum in the Capital. In the evening, while on her way back to the Paharganj hotel, she lost her way and meandered through the uncrowded State Entry Road towards the New Delhi Railway Station.

Unable to find the direction to her hotel, she saw one of the accused on the State Entry Road and requested him to guide her back to the hotel. At this point, the accused and eight other men robbed and took turns to sexually assault her at knifepoint, she has alleged.

Though she got an FIR registered the same day, the rape survivor refused to undergo a medical examination since she had to catch a flight to Denmark the very next day.

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MEDICAL TEST

After getting back home, she apprised the Danish authorities of the incident and underwent the requisite medical test. The investigating officer and the woman doctor accompanying her from Denmark will record their statements in the court on Thursday.

The court had summoned the woman on February 24 this year for recording of her testimony after the earlier summons, issued on January 13, could not be served upon her. The court had directed that fresh summons be issued to the woman as per the guidelines of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), which require a processing time of at least three months. Among the accused, two juveniles are facing an inquiry before the Juvenile Justice Board here. The adult accused - including Mahendra alias Ganja (24), Mohd Raja (22), Raju (23), Arjun (21), Raju Chakka (22) and Shyam Lal (55) - are in judicial custody and facing trial.