All You Need To Know About Delhi's Chhawla Rape-Murder Case

A 2012 rape and murder of a 19-year-old girl which took place in New Delhi's Chhawla area of Dwarka has been gathering massive attention after the three accused were acquitted.

The Supreme Court acquitted the three convicts in the case stating that there lay a clear lack of evidence in the case, keeping aside the High Court's judgment of 2014, which had announced a death sentence for the convicts.

Delhi's Chhawla rape-murder case speaks volumes about the lapses in investigations that are carried out in the country for years which not only derail details around the case but also timely judgements.

Suggested reading: After Multiple Cases Of Crimes Against Women, Mumbai Police Forms ‘Nirbhaya Squad’

Chawla Rape-Murder Case: 10 Things To Know

• On February 9, 2012, a 19-year-old girl was brutally raped and murdered at Chhawla, in the Dwarka area of Delhi.
• Three accused men were taken into custody and the trial court awarded a death sentence to all of them. The Delhi High Court soon after held the judgement for the same.
• The three accused had allegedly abducted the teenage girl when she was returning home from work. The girl's body, heavily mutilated, was recovered by the police near the Rewari region in Haryana on February 14, 2012.
• The autopsy denoted that she was brutally raped and had acid poured on her eyes.
• On November 7, 2022, the Supreme Court disregarded the orders of the trial court and high court respectively.
• The bench comprising Chief Justice U.U. Lalit and Justices Bela M. Trivedi and Ravindra Bhat stated that the investigation lacked severity and had lapses which comprised the case to a large extent. They observed that the investigation done by the police did not include any kind of identification checks and, most importantly, did not have any witnesses on board who could identify the accused at the time of their depositions at the courthouse.
• Noting that there was no clear evidence against the accused, the apex court set aside the judgement earlier pronounced by the High Court.
• The father of the deceased expressed his disappointment over the Supreme Court's judgement and further decided to challenge the verdict. He was backed by Delhi Lieutenant Governor V.K. Saxena who has now given the go-ahead to the Delhi government to file a petition in the apex court.
• The Dehli government will now challenge the SC's decision to acquit the convicts, according to the latest report. The government stated that the case has a similar DNA expert as was in Nirbhaya's case and that it's significant to keep his observations to count while investigating the case.
• Lieutenant Governor V.K. Saxena also gave the green light to the representation of the Delhi government by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta.