Supreme Court stays trial before Sessions judge till May 7
The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the trial in the sensational Kathua rape-and-murder case before sessions judge till the next date of hearing on May 7. An eight-year-old girl had disappeared from near her home in the forests next to Rasana village in Kathua on January 10. Her body was found in the same area a week later.
This comes after the top court was seized with petitions seeking shifting of the trial to Chandigarh and handing over the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
On Thursday, the apex court, in a stern warning, said it would transfer the Kathua rape-and-murder case from the local court in Jammu and Kashmir in the "slightest possibility" of lack of fair trial, saying the "real concern" was to hold proper prosecution.
Earlier, the minor's father had moved the top court apprehending threat to the family, a friend and their lawyer Rajawat.
A separate plea was also filed by two accused seeking that the trial in the case be held in Jammu and the probe handed over to the CBI.
The state police's Crime Branch, which probed the case, filed the main chargesheet against seven persons and a separate chargesheet against a juvenile in a court in Kathua district last week. The chargesheet revealed chilling details about how the girl was allegedly kidnapped, drugged and raped inside a place of worship before being killed.
-With agency inputs