In February 2020, a Delhi Court had issued a life term to convict Brijesh Thakur in association with the sexual assault case of over 40 girls at a shelter home in Muzaffarpur, Bihar.
He is a former legislator and owner of the NGO called Sewa Sankalp Evam Vikas Samiti, which manages the place where the incident took place.
The Delhi High Court has issued a notice to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on the appeal filed by Thakur.
A division bench of Justice Vipin Sanghi, Justice Rajnish Bhatnagar, and advocate Pramod Dubey issued the notice challenging the court order.
The lawyers said that the trial conducted the hearing in a “hurried manner”, and violated their right to free speech and fair trial.
Thakur’s appeal said that requests made by and on behalf of the Appellant were dismissed in a “mechanical manner” without applying a judicial mindset to conclude the trial.
He added that the appellant’s statutory and fundamental right was denied as the hours of the trial were extended beyond normal court timings.
The appeal also mentioned that the court failed to recognise that for a case related to rape, the prosecution must firstly establish that the accused is potent and capable of committing the alleged act.
According to the appeal, neither the Bihar Police or the Central Bureau of Investigation conducted the potency test of the accused and his wife did not place her statement under section 161 Cr.P.C on record.
The Supreme Court had transferred the case from Bihar to a Delhi court and ordered the judge to complete it within six months, following which the trial court framed charges against 20 accused in the case, according to ANI.