Srinagar
The Supreme Court has transferred the Kathua rape and murder case trial to Pathankot in Punjab. The court ordered that the trial is fast-tracked and be conducted in-camera, reports claimed.
A report by News 18 said that the Jammu and Kashmir government could appoint a special public prosecutor and it was up to them to make sure that the witnesses are produced on time. The SC also ordered that the media should not be gagged in the case. There has been no order on the CBI probe and the next hearing in the case will be on July 9.
The J&K government had submitted to the apex court that it was ready for a fair trial in the state and had opposed the transfer. The top court, however, accepted the plea by the victim’s father and transferred the case out of Kathua, the report mentioned.
The victim, an eight-year-old girl from a minority nomadic community, had disappeared from near her home in a village near Kathua in the Jammu region on January 10. Her body was found in the same area a week later.
The apex court had earlier given a stern warning and said it would transfer the Kathua gangrape-and-murder case from the local court in the “slightest possibility” of lack of fair trial, saying the “real concern” was to hold proper prosecution, News 18 reported.
The girl’s father had moved the apex court earlier, apprehending threat to the family, a friend and their lawyer Deepika Singh Rajawat. A separate plea was also filed by two accused seeking that the trial in the case is held in Jammu and the probe handed over to the CBI.
The state police’s Crime Branch, which probed the case, filed the main charge sheet against seven persons and a separate charge sheet against a juvenile in a court in Kathua district last week. The charge sheet revealed chilling details about how the girl was allegedly kidnapped, drugged and raped inside a place of worship before being killed, reported News 18.
The most important thing is that the prosecution will be with Jammu and Kashmir government. ordinarily, when a trial is shifted to a different state, that state appoints the prosecution lawyers. The SC has also said that the fair trial means justice for the victim and here it is victims family.
