A Delhi court has allowed forensic examination of the Unnao gang rape survivor’s voice sample to verify disputed audio and video recordings. The court clarified that the CFSL report will only aid the trial and its evidentiary value will be assessed later.
New Delhi: A Delhi court on Tuesday allowed a request for forensic examination of the Unnao rape survivor’s voice sample in a case related to her alleged gang rape in June 2017, when she was a minor.
The order was passed by Special Judge (PC Act) Murari Prasad Singh of the Rouse Avenue Courts. The court permitted the collection of the woman’s voice sample and directed that it be sent to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory for comparison with audio and video recordings that are already part of the case record.
ALSO READ: Supreme Court Refuses to Withdraw CRPF Security Cover for Unnao Rape Survivor
The court passed the order on an application moved by accused Shubham Singh. This case is separate from the sexual assault case involving former BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar. According to the prosecution, the gang rape was allegedly committed on the survivor about a week after she was raped by Sengar.
Shubham Singh is the son of Shashi Singh, who is alleged to be a close aide of Kuldeep Singh Sengar. During the hearing, lawyers representing Shubham Singh argued that the prosecutrix had denied that the voice in certain recorded conversations belonged to her, even though these recordings were being relied upon during the trial.
The defence submitted that the disputed audio and video recordings allegedly contain statements in which the prosecutrix admitted that she had left her house voluntarily. On this basis, the accused sought a scientific examination of the voice sample.
The defence further argued that a voice spectrographic analysis was necessary to test the credibility of the prosecutrix and that the recordings could have potential exculpatory value for the accused.
After examining the submissions and the case record, the court allowed the application and directed that the prosecutrix’s voice sample be collected and sent to the CFSL for forensic comparison with the disputed recordings.
However, the court made it clear that this forensic exercise was being permitted only to assist the adjudicatory process.
The judge also clarified that the evidentiary value of the forensic report would be considered at the appropriate stage of the trial and that the report, by itself, would not automatically decide the outcome of the case.
Advocates Akhand Pratap Singh, Samridhi Dobhal, and Hritwik Maurya appeared on behalf of the accused Shubham Singh.
Click Here to Read More Reports On Unnao Gang Rape
