Delhi gangrape: Defence to cross examine victim's friend on 15 Feb

New Delhi: The male friend and the sole eyewitness to the 16 December brutal assault and gangrape of the 23-year-old girl in a moving bus will be cross examined by the defence in the fast-track court this weekend.The youth  has earlier testified as a prosecution witness before the court of Additional Sessions Judge Yogesh Khanna.The 28-year-old youth, a software engineer, is likely to depose before the court against the five adult accused on 15 February.The judge, who is recording the witness statements in in-camera proceedings on a daily basis since 5 February, has prepared a list of 39 prosecution witnesses, including the youth, for examining them by 22 February.[caption id="attachment_622874" align="alignleft" width="380"]

AP[/caption]The engineer will be cross examined by the counsel for accused bus driver Ram Singh, his brother Mukesh, Vinay Sharma, Pawan Gupta and Akshay Singh.The girl had died on 29 December, 2012 in a Singapore hospital as a result of the grievous injuries she had suffered when she was sexually assaulted by six people, one of them a juvenile.Meanwhile, the court today recorded the statement of the two magistrates, who were part of the judicial proceedings relating to the test identification parade (TIP) of the accused and also for identifying the stolen articles of the victim and her male friend.One of the magistrates, who was to depose in the case, today did not appear for recording his statement as he was on leave.Two Safdarjung Hospital doctors, who were part of the team that provided the victim with medical treatment, have testified  and were also cross examined by the defence.The details of the proceedings cannot be reported by the media as the court has imposed a ban on it under the provisions of the Indian Penal Code.On 2 February, all the five adult accused in the case pleaded not guilty to the charges framed against them by the fast track court.PTI