CHANDIGARH: Senior advocate Anupam Gupta said on Saturday that two witnesses, including a former reporter of an online portal, in the alleged gang rapes at Murthal during the Jat quota violence in Haryana in February should be prosecuted for fabricating evidence.Gupta, who is assisting the Punjab and Haryana high court in the case, made this suggestion to the judges after additional solicitor general Tushar Mehta told the court that the reporter, Tariq Anwar , had allegedly recorded his relative's voice and presented it as the statement of the mother of one of the alleged rape survivors. Mehta said that Anwar deposed before a special judge in Sonepat and gave his statement under Section 164 of the CrPcThe second witness was a man from Punjab, Surjeet Gag, who had allegedly posted a letter on social media. The court was told that the letter, allegedly written by an Australian woman who was raped at Murthal, was Gag's "figment of imagination". IGP Mamta Singh, who is heading the SIT probing the violence, told the court that the statements by Anwar and Gag were recorded in camera before a special judge and no police officer was present at the time.The division bench, comprising Justice S S Saron and Justice Arun Palli , recorded Gupta's statement that the witnesses be prosecuted. Gupta, however, said that despite such statements, the rape case couldn't be closed because one more witness, Raj Kumar , who was passing by Murthal during the agitation, had deposed before the special judge that the rapes had taken place.

Source: Times of India December 03, 2016 21:33 UTC