Night of shame continues…..

We engaged Dayan Krishnan, a noted senior advocate of the Supreme Court, as our chief prosecutor. I had known him since my CBI days and didn’t need to look any further. A low-profile lawyer with tremendous legal acumen and unimpeachable integrity, we couldn’t have found anyone better. For Dayan Krishnan, it was not just another case, but a mission he was setting out on. Not many people are aware that the distinguished lawyer took the case pro bono and did not charge the government any money. Rajeev Mohan— another veteran public prosecutor—assisted Dayan ably.

The legal team vetted the charge sheet, and I asked to review it before it was filed in court. It is a matter of considerable professional contentment for me that I not only contributed to the presentation of the evidence in the case, but also pointed out some major lacunae that, if not made good at that stage, could have created serious issues during trial.

Finally, the charge sheet of the case was filed on 3 January 2013. After the completion of mandatory legal requirements, the trial commenced on 5 February the same year and    was held on a day-to-day basis. A special team, headed by Inspector Rajender Singh, was deputed exclusively to assist the prosecutors. A total of eighty-five prosecution witnesses and seventeen defence witnesses were examined. The doctors in Singapore who had treated Nirbhaya and the coroner who had conducted the post-mortem were examined and cross- examined in the court through videoconference, perhaps the first time in our legal history that such a thing was done.

To be continued……