2022 Port Blair case: Key witnesses flip hostile in gangrape case in opposition to former Andamans Chief Secretary | India Information
That is what the rape sufferer now says, 4 years after her police criticism in opposition to the then Chief Secretary of the Union Territory rocked Port Blair. She doesn’t need extra particulars printed, besides that final September she bought a job within the “safety sector’’ for a month-to-month wage of Rs 25,000.
Because the case was filed in 2022, life has been harsh for her. And has solely bought harsher. Her husband has left her and the case in opposition to the accused has “weakened” with 4 of the important thing witnesses, together with the husband, turning hostile and denying their recorded statements,
“No person, not even the legal professionals, inform me what’s going on in courtroom. They don’t wish to upset me. So I simply put on my uniform each morning and exit for responsibility,” says the sufferer.
On October 15, 2022, The Indian Specific first reported how she, then a 21-year-old authorities job seeker from Port Blair, had filed a police criticism alleging gangrape by Jitendra NarainIAS, who was then Chief Secretary of Andaman and Nicobar, after which Labour Commissioner R L Rishi.
The lady was given police safety and the A & N police arrange a Particular Investigation Staff (SIT) to probe into her allegations. By the point the FIR was registered, Narain was transferred from A & N and appointed Chairman and Managing Director of the Delhi Finance Company.
A day after The Indian Specific report, Narain was suspended through an order of the House Ministry citing “grave misconduct.” The following day, an A&N police staff raided his home in New Delhi and seized digital proof together with cell phones and laptops.
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Narain was arrested on November 10, 2022, and bought bail from the Calcutta Excessive Courtroom on February 20, 2023.
The SIT in Port Blair filed a 900-page chargesheet. The trial commenced on July 1, 2024 within the courtroom of the District Decide, Port Blair, with Narain showing in courtroom through tele-conferencing.
Until date, Narain stays suspended from service and is because of retire this October.
A scrutiny of the listing of 115 witnesses cited by the prosecution present that three years after the trial started, 4 witnesses have turned hostile. They embrace: the sufferer’s husband; the motive force on the Chief Secretary’s residence, who’s listed as a “protected witness,” and who had, in his assertion, mentioned he had pushed “a number of” girls, together with the sufferer, to the residence.
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A 3rd witness who turned hostile is Sawab Hussain, the CCTV technician who had testified to the police that the Chief Secretary’s employees had requested him to handover the DVD containing footage from his residence. The DVD was by no means traced.
The fourth witness declared “hostile” is Shohood Akhtar, who had given a Part 161 CrPC assertion and is listed as a Laptop Assistant working with the A&N Authorities.
Considerably, the motive force and the CCTV technician had given statements to the police below Part 164. The sufferer’s deposition and cross-examination continued for 10 days from July 1, 2024 to February 6, 2025. She nonetheless has police safety the A&N Authorities has given her.
Chatting with The Indian SpecificChief Prosecutor within the case, Sumit Kumar Karmakar, mentioned that the witnesses having turned hostile was “disappointing.”
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Nonetheless, he added that he would, accordingly, recalibrate his case. “We could now drop some witnesses, trim the listing of 115 and intention for a faster trial. We’ll now current our case relying extra closely on the testimony of the sufferer. We’re assured about each phrase the sufferer has spoken in her testimony in courtroom,” Karmakar mentioned.
In October 2022, the motive force had spoken to The Indian Specific and reiterated allegations he had made in his Part 164 CrPC assertion to the police.
He had then described how throughout his posting as driver on the residence of the Chief Secretary , he had pushed “a number of” girls to the residence. He had additionally instructed this newspaper that the sample of visits of those girls matched the “sequence” described by the sufferer.
The driving force had mentioned he would often be requested to first, escort the ladies on the Chief Secretary’s home, after which choose up meals and ship for the “company.” Later, the ladies could be dropped off at pre-appointed locations, he mentioned.
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The driving force was declared hostile on October 31, 2025. In sharp distinction to his Part 164 assertion, he denied your entire sequence of occasions through the trial. “I didn’t inform the police that I served drink and snacks to Sahib…I didn’t inform police that she was such woman whom I noticed with Rishi sir and to whom I served chilly drinks…I didn’t state to police that some ladies used to return in veil and a few used to return having vermilion.”
In a written submission given to courtroom, Public Prosecutor Karmakar has mentioned that disciplinary motion must be taken in opposition to the motive force since he was a Authorities worker and had induced a reversal in an necessary felony case.
One other blow to the prosecution case has been the sufferer’s husband turning hostile. On March 12, 2026, he denied that the sufferer was ever his spouse. “I don’t know relating to any criticism lodged by anybody…It’s not a incontrovertible fact that the sufferer is my spouse…I used to be referred to as by the police and I put my signatures on 2-3 papers. I put my signature with out perusing the paperwork.”
The husband didn’t reply to messages and calls made by The Indian Specific.
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Jitendra Narain was not out there for remark. S Ajit Prasad, one of many legal professionals defending him within the Port Blair trial till three months in the past, mentioned that successive key witnesses turning hostile had “considerably weakened’’ the case of the prosecution. Prasad mentioned that as a result of some “misunderstandings” with the consumer, he had returned the temporary.
Narain’s senior lawyer, Deep Kabir, mentioned, “Because the matter is sub judice, I’ll make no feedback on developments within the case.”
