Mumbai: Judge to visit crime scene where minor was raped, murdered

Nearly five years after the abduction, rape and murder of a 9-year-old girl at Kurla's Nehru Nagar shook the city, the trial is now coming to a close with one final twist - the judge, as well as the police and the defence and prosecution, will visit the spot where the horrific crime took place all those years ago.

The case
Fresh on the heels of two other incidents in which minor girls had been raped and murdered in Nehru Nagar, on June 19, 2010, a 9-year-old girl's body was found in a shanty in the Vatsalabai Nagar slum.

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The girl had gone missing a fortnight before, and her body was only found after neighbours complained of a foul smell emanating from the room. After the medical report confirmed that she had been raped, the police arrested Javed Shaikh, who worked for the local cable operator, on charges of kidnap, rape and murder.

On the spot
Special Women's Court judge, Vrushali Joshi will visit the crime scene on July 11, at 4 pm, on the behest of the defence, which invoked Section 310 of the CrPC, which states ‘any judge or magistrate may, at any stage of any inquiry, trial or other proceeding, after due notice to the parties, visit and inspect any place in which an offence is alleged to have been committed, or any other place which it is in his opinion necessary to view for the purpose of properly appreciating the evidence given at such inquiry or trial, and shall without unnecessary delay record a memorandum of any relevant facts observed at such inspection'.

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On Monday, defence advocate Amin Solkar, along with advocate Sudha Dwivedi, filed an application before the court requesting the court to inspect the different spots where the girl was kidnapped from and then taken to, "in the interest of justice and expediency" and to "appreciate the evidence of witnesses examined by the prosecution".

After Special Public Prosecutor Pradip Gharat expressed no objections, the judge passed an order on the same. The court has already recorded statements from all the witnesses, and will hear final arguments for the case after the site visit.