Hearings in the Dec. 16 gang rape and robbery cases were today adjourned after the accused failed to appear at separate courts here due to the non-availability of policemen ahead of Independence Day.

Additional Sessions Judge Yogesh Khanna, who is holding the trial in the gang rape case, fixed the matter for hearing tomorrow after being informed by police that the accused could not be brought to the Saket court complex as there were not enough security personnel to escort them from Tihar jail.

Ahead of Independence Day celebrations, cops and other paramilitary personnel were deployed in and around the national capital, the court was informed.

A similar reason prevented proceedings from going on in the robbery case in the court of Additional Sessions Judge Daya Prakash at the Patiala House complex.

In the gang-rape trial, the court was recording the statements of prosecution witnesses who are countering the claims of the accused Vinay Sharma and Pawan Gupta that they were not in the bus in which the victim was allegedly gang-raped by six persons.

The duo say they were at a DDA park to participate in a music function organised by a church at the time when the crime took place.

However, a DDA official, who will be cross-examined tomorrow, and two members of the church, have contended that neither the civic agency nor the church had organised any function in the park on Dec. 16 night.