High Court of Himachal Pradesh
Himachal Pradesh High Court today ordered CBI probe into two cases of gangrape and murder of class-X girl at village Halaila (Kotkhai) and also custodial death of an accused at police station, Kotkhai, 56 km from Shimla .
In an order passed by Acting Chief Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Sandeep Sharma, the CBI was asked to set-up a special SIT with an officer, not less than the rank of SP alongwth two Dy SPs . The order was passed on a PIL,which the Court had taken in its suo-moto action, based on newspaper reports .
To fast track the investigations, the court also asked the CBI to submit a status report within two weeks. The state government was specifically told by the bench to provide necessary facilities including vehicle and accommodation for the purpose of the probe.
The bench also directed the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the state police to hand over all records to the CBI .
The issue came-up before the court, when state’s advocate General Shrawan Dogra made a mention to Acting CJ, about custodial death of an accused at Kotkhai and also violence that erupted after the incident, that resulted in burning the police station and vehicles .
Later in the day, Acting Chief Justice took-up the matter by setting-up a special bench and passed detailed orders, tracing the circumstances and also facts stated by the state government including DGP Somesh Goyal, who was also asked to file an affidavit in the court during the day.
Even as the state government has also taken a decision to refer the case to the CBI but the agency, till now, has not moved in to start the investigations.
