Eight years after the incident, a local court has acquitted three members of the Sector 7 Resident Welfare Association (RWA) accused of grievously hurting a fellow member during a 2015 meeting.
As per the complainant, Rohtash Singh, the incident took place on April 26, 2015, during the RWA’s general assembly meeting at the Sector 7 Ramlila Ground. The members had all signed the election register for forming a new body. However, when the proceedings were underway, NK Jhingan allegedly snatched the register before handing it to Sat Narain Sharma who ran out of the ground.
Singh alleged that when he tried to take the register back, Sharma and the third accused Anil Kataria pushed him onto the ground. The trio then allegedly attacked him. He was taken to Government Multi Specialty Hospital (GMSH) Sector 16 for treatment, and lodged a police complaint on the same day.
The group initially reached a compromise, but Singh again approached the police alleging that the accused were threatening. After the constitution of a medical board, a case under Sections 325 (punishment for voluntarily causing grievous hurt) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was registered on November 13, 2015. Claiming innocence, the accused opted for trial.
The prosecution examined 15 witnesses including some RWA members that were present at the time of the incident. The accused claimed that the incident never took place and the medical record and other documents were wrongly prepared. They claimed Singh suffered injuries while he was serving in the armed forces in the year 2011, while playing tug-of-war. The further alleged complainant held a grudge against them ever since his nomination papers for the Sector 7 RWA elections were cancelled prior to the alleged incident.
{{/usCountry}}The prosecution examined 15 witnesses including some RWA members that were present at the time of the incident. The accused claimed that the incident never took place and the medical record and other documents were wrongly prepared. They claimed Singh suffered injuries while he was serving in the armed forces in the year 2011, while playing tug-of-war. The further alleged complainant held a grudge against them ever since his nomination papers for the Sector 7 RWA elections were cancelled prior to the alleged incident.
{{/usCountry}}The court of additional chief judicial magistrate TPS Randhawa observed that there are glaring contradictions in the medical evidence as, when admitted, the complainant’s injury was declared simple in nature. In the OPD card too, it had been overwritten to read “scuffle”. The doctor had also confirmed that neither the MRI scan nor the x-ray on the basis of which the injuries were declared grievous were on file. There were contradictions in the eye witness versions.
While acquitting the accused, the court further observed that the complainant had demanded ₹1 lakh from the accused during the Lok Adalat and his credibility stood tarnished and there was doubt about his truthfulness.