Senior Jammu prosecutor to deal with Punjab IGP’s trial

The hearing in scheduled to be held in the district court of Chandigarh on Tuesday.

FOLLOWING THE refusal of the Chandigarh legal department to deal with the trial proceedings of Punjab Inspector General of Police Ajay Kumar Pandey in a case of alleged kidnapping that was registered in Jammu, the Jammu legal department appointed the senior public prosecutor (SPP) from Jammu to argue in that case. The hearing in scheduled to be held in the district court of Chandigarh on Tuesday. The district court had sent an application to the Jammu and Kashmir legal department to send counsel to assist the Chandigarh court in a case relating to Ajay Kumar Pandey, Punjab IGP, Human Rights.

Acting on this, Jammu SPP Bharat Bhushan Sharma was appointed to deal with the case in the Chandigarh district court. The application had been sent by the court as all documents related to the case were in Urdu and hence it was mentioned that it would not be viable to begin the trial while the Chandigarh court had also mentioned through a communique that the legal counsel should be from Jammu or Punjab as the case was not associated with UT. The Chandigarh court had then asked the Jammu legal department to depute some counsel to assist the court following which trial could begin.

Ajay Kumar Pandey is the son of former IGP BL Pandey. Though the case was registered in Jammu, the Supreme Court shifted it to the Chandigarh district court. Ajay was booked in July 1990 when posted in Jammu and Kashmir, under sections 364 (kidnapping or abducting in order to murder) and 344 (wrongful confinement for 10 or more days) of Ranbir Penal Code. He had filed an application in 2011 in the Supreme Court mentioning that since there was a risk to his life in Jammu, the case should be transferred to the Chandigarh court, resulting in his plea getting the nod.