Bhubaneswar, Dec. 8: The wheels of justice for former Marathi actress Archana Joglekar could have moved faster had the court records in the attempt to rape case not gone missing and the accused paid heed to the summons for appearance.

Joglekar, who flew in from New Jersey to depose in the court of additional district and sessions judge R.K. Saran yesterday, was today cross-examined by defence lawyer Laxmidhar Mishra in-camera.

After the attempt to rape incident at the government-run Panthaniwas here on November 30, 1997, Joglekar filed a complaint with police the same night. The accused, Bhubanananda Panda, was arrested the next morning and forwarded to court on December 2. The chargesheet was filed on March 1 next year.

On October 21, 1998, the court found that the records were missing. A thorough search was mounted later but it did not yield any results.

In 1999, the court ordered reconstruction of the missing records, after which copies of the relevant documents were procured from the police and other sources.

The case faced several adjournments as the investigating police officials took time to process the records. The non-appearance of the accused — who had been released on bail — in court further slowed down the process.

During the cross-examination today, the defence lawyer reportedly tried to impress upon the judge that as the alleged victim was a celebrity, the police and doctors acted overzealously to prepare the case.

Mishra maintained that the charges framed against the accused were not maintainable.

The allegation of attempt to rape cannot be proved as there is no evidence to prove that she was disrobed and sexually assaulted, he contended, pointing out that medical examination was conducted on the alleged victim twice and the reports were contradictory.

Joglekar told the court that she sustained injuries during the scuffle with the accused. Panda allegedly tried to disrobe her during the fight, which, in her opinion, amounted to sexual assault.

The accused had “pressed my neck for two minutes with both his hands to stop me from screaming”, Joglekar further alleged.

The next hearing would take place on January 5, when the two doctors of Capital Hospital, who had conducted Joglekar’s medical test, and the then inspector in-charge of Bargarh police station would be examined.

Additional public prosecutor Surya Dash claimed the prosecution has “fully established the case”. “The victim perfectly answered the questions. The victim’s evidence is most vital as she was the only witness,” he said.