A Delhi court today took cognisance of the charge sheet filed against a driver of US-based cab service provider, Uber, for allegedly raping a 27-year-old woman executive in December last year.

Metropolitan Magistrate Ajay Kumar Malik committed the case to a sessions court for trial and posted the matter for January 7.

“Since the charge sheet has been filed, copies have been supplied to the accused and the present matter is exclusively triable by the sessions court, I take cognisance on the charge sheet and commit the case to sessions court for January 7,” the magistrate said.

The court also extended the judicial custody of arrested accused Shiv Kumar Yadav, 32, till Wednesday.

During the hearing, the court pulled up Yadav’s counsel for putting forward “useless arguments” and trying to unnecessarily delay the proceedings.

The court dismissed a plea moved by the defence counsel seeking security for his client, saying, “There is no visible injury on the accused and the prosecuting authority are doing their work very well.”

Yadav, who was driving the cab, had allegedly raped the woman on the night of December 5, last year when the victim, who works for a finance company in Gurgaon, was headed back to her home in north Delhi’s Inderlok area.

Yadav was arrested on December 7 from Mathura in a joint operation by Delhi and Uttar Pradesh police and produced before the court on December 8.

The police had filed the charge sheet against Yadav on December 24, 19 days after the incident for alleged offences punishable under sections 376 (rape), 366 (kidnapping or abducting woman with an intent to compel her for marriage), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) under IPC.

In the charge sheet, the police had relied on the forensic evidence and also placed on record the route map of the car in which the offence was committed.

Earlier, the police had told the court that during Yadav’s custodial interrogation, they have recovered mobile phones and clothes, which he was wearing at the time of the offence.

Yadav had refused to undergo Test Identification Parade (TIP), saying the woman had already seen his photograph in Uber’s website and she would definitely identify him.

TIP is a process under the criminal law through which a victim identifies an accused.

The police had also told the court that Yadav was hired by Uber and it had not verified his particulars and they have lodged a case of cheating against the firm.

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