Delhi rape: Sushma criticises Zee FIR

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sushma Swaraj on Saturday slammed the Delhi Police for registering a First Information Report (FIR) against Zee News for revealing the identity of the Delhi gangrape victim's male friend by airing his interview on Friday.

She said people have the right to know the truth.

"Delhi Police cannot muzzle voice of the citizen by lodging a case against the Channel. People have a right to know the truth," Swaraj tweeted.

Former top cop Kiran Bedi tweeted: "The legality Police has shown in registering case against Zee TV,wish they register crime as its reported. Let´s c how Jud- system responds!"

Pertinently, the victim´s friend is the sole eyewitness in the case.

The FIR was registered against Zee News under Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 228A (Disclosure of identity of the victim of certain offences etc) at the Vasant Vihar Police Station, the police said.

Appearing on television for the first time, the 23-year-old gangrape victim´s friend said no one came to their help as they laid helpless on the road and the police also waited more than two hours to take them to the hospital despite the appalling injuries on Dec 16 night when they were attacked.

The Delhi Police have negated the charges of delay as was mentioned by Pandey in his interview to Zee News.

Delhi Police PRO Rajan Bhagat told media, "The PCR call was recorded at 10:22:20 pm. The call was broadcasted to PCR vans and van Z-54 was directed to spot. Meanwhile PCR van E-42 reached spot on its own at 10:26 pm ie within 4 minutes."

"Van Z-54 reached spot at 10:28 pm ie within 5.5 minutes of call. It left the spot with victims at 10:31 pm ie within 3 minutes. It reached Safdarjang hospital within 24 minutes at 10:55 pm. All records as per GPS," Bhagat said.

Pertinently, the channel identified the man as 28-year-old software engineer Avaindra Pratap Pandey.

The nation, including New Delhi, is witnessing massive uproar over the death of the 23-year-old woman after being gangraped and brutalised with an iron rod on a moving bus in the national capital last month.