XXXX vs STATE OF DELHI NCT

Judgment text excerpt

$~47 * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI % Date of Decision: 19th February, 2026 + CRL.M.C. 1574/2025 XXXX .....Petitioner Through: Mr. Gautam Khazanchi, Mr. Chaitanya Sundriyal, Ms. A. Pratap, Mr. Vinayak Chawla, Ms. Madhura Vaidya and Ms. Pooja Deepak, Advocates. versus STATE OF DELHI NCT .....Respondent Through: Mr. Sunil Kumar Gautam, APP for the State with SI Ajit. CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE MANOJ JAIN J U D G M E N T (oral) CRL.M.A. 5676/2026 (seeking early hearing) 1. The next date of hearing in the present petition is 21.05.2026 and the abovesaid application seeks early hearing. 2. Keeping in mind the short point involved and the urgency cited, the application is allowed and the date is pre-poned. The matter is taken up today. 3. The next date i.e. 21.05.2026 is hereby cancelled. CRL.M.C. 1574/2025 4. The victim i.e. petitioner herein, is survivor of heinous crime of rape/sexual assault. 5. The alleged incident occurred in the year 2018 and during trial, petitioner entered into witness box, reportedly, on 22.02.2023. 6. However, her cross-examination could not take place. Subsequently, she appeared four times for the purposes of cross-examination and on all such occasions, she was further cross-examined. Fact, however, remains that her Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed CRL.M.C. 1574/2025 1 By:DINESH CHANDRA Signing Date:20.02.2026 10:36:36 cross-examination was not completed. 7. When the matter was scheduled for further cross-examination on 06.12.2024, she did not appear and resultantly, on 13.02.2025, the learned Trial Court issued Bailable Warrants against the victim/petitioner on account of her non-appearance. 8. Petitioner on that day i.e. on 13.02.2025 was represented through her counsel who submitted his memo of appearance. He also explained th