Manipal gangrape hearing has been adjourned till Dec 3

As the State government had filed a Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court against the order of the High Court, to examine the remaining witnesses in the Manipal gangrape case, the hearing of the case at the District and Sessions Court here was adjourned till December 3.

T.S. Jituri, Public Prosecutor, told  on Tuesday that the Karnataka High Court had given an order to examine 16 witnesses in the case.

There are a total of 108 witnesses in the case.

Though the District and Sessions Court had earlier ruled that the examination of the remaining witnesses was not necessary, the accused had approached the State High Court.

Now the State government has filed a Special Leave Petition against the High Court order in the Supreme Court.

Therefore, the District and Sessions Court has decided to wait for the orders of the Supreme Court and has adjourned the hearing till December 3, Mr. Jituri said.

BackgroundA medical student of Manipal University, hailing from Kerala, was abducted and gangraped near Manipal on June 20, 2013. After a massive manhunt, the police nabbed three suspects Yogesh Poojary, Hariprasad Poojary and Anand on June 27, 2013.

They were charged under Sections 366, 376D, 506 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code.

The police had also arrested Balachandra, the brother of Yogesh, and Harindra, the brother of Hariprasad, on the charge of trying to destroy evidence. They were released on bail in December 2013.