IIT-BHU gangrape case: Varanasi fast track court records statement of lone eyewitness

Varanasi, Jan 31 (PTI) A fast track court here recorded the statement of the sole witness in the 2023 IIT-BHU gangrape case on Thursday.

Government advocate Manoj Gupta said that during the last hearing in the case, the court summoned the eyewitness, a friend of the gangrape survivor, to record his statement before it.

The eyewitness recorded his statement, which supported the survivor's account of things, Gupta said.

According to the complainant, she went out of her hostel on November 1, 2023, with her friend. They were near the Karman Baba temple when three motorcycle-borne men came there and allegedly forcibly took her to a corner after separating from her friend, gagged her and stripped her.

They also made a video of her and clicked photos. They let her go after about 15 minutes and took her phone number, the complainant has alleged.

Following the incident, hundreds of Banaras Hindu University (BHU) students held a protest on the campus.

Based on the student's complaint, an FIR was registered under Section 354 (assault or criminal force to a woman with intent to outrage her modesty) of the Indian Penal Code and under provisions of the Information Technology Act at Lanka police station. Subsequently, the charge of gangrape was added to the FIR, police said.

Three people -- Kunal Pandey, Anand alias Abhishek Chauhan and Saksham Patel -- were arrested in connection with the matter on December 31, 2023. PTI COR NAV DIV DIV