Chandigarh: The other maternal uncle arrested for 10-year-old's rape was produced in the court on Wednesday and sent to two days' police remand. The uncle, who was staying next to the victim's house, is said to have confessed that he started raping his niece before his brother, who was earlier held, did.
The case had hit national headlines in July after the Supreme Court had dismissed a plea seeking termination of the 10-yesr-old's 32-week pregnancy . The court had taken note of a medical report that abortion was neither good for the girl nor for the foetus. The survivor had later given birth to a baby girl who is being looked after by the state now.
It also came to light that the accused whose DNA did not match with the newborn was aware that his brother used to rape the 10-year-old. All through, he tried to cover him up and it was only when the victim was counseled that the other uncle, who was about to flee to Nepal, was apprehended.
The accused did not utter a word in the court even when asked by the legal aid advocate if he had a lawyer to represent his case. The Chandigarh police might move an application for his DNA test too. The police sought remand to know for how long he had been raping the girl and if some other persons were involved. He was arrested after the victim gave a statement in the court that he had also raped her several times.
The defence counsel of the first maternal uncle sought time to file the reply on the application moved by the police to conduct his DNA test again.Advocate Manjit Singh said the court had granted permission to the Chandigarh police to further investigate the matter and not for reinvestigation.The defence counsel also argued that the prosecution was now in a fix as the DNA report turned out to be negative. But further investigation does not allow police to take blood samples of the accused again, he added. The defence counsel is expected to file the reply by Thursday .
The case had hit national headlines in July after the Supreme Court had dismissed a plea seeking termination of the 10-yesr-old's 32-week pregnancy . The court had taken note of a medical report that abortion was neither good for the girl nor for the foetus. The survivor had later given birth to a baby girl who is being looked after by the state now.