By Express News Service
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday transferred the Kathua rape and murder case trial to Pathankot in Punjab while ordering a day-to-day trial to be held in front of the camera.
While opposing the transfer, The Jammu and Kashmir government had submitted to the apex court that it was ready for a fair trial within the state.
The court ruled out any CBI inquiry into the case for now.
However, a bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra accepted the plea by the victim's father and transferred the case out of Kathua and said, “Free and fair cannot be allowed to exist together.”
The court also allowed J-K government to appoint a public prosecutor against the accused during the trial at Pathankot.
The trial will be carried out in accordance with the provisions of Ranbir Penal Code, which is applicable in Jammu and Kashmir.
The state was also asked to provide security to victim's family, their lawyer and witnesses, while the translation of statements and records will be done from Urdu to English.
"The security provided to the juvenile accused will continue," a bench, which also comprised Justices D Y Chandrachud and Indu Malhotra, said and posted the matter for further hearing in July when the apex court reopens after the summer vacation.
The Pathankot District and Sessions Judge been asked to personally undertake trial proceedings.
The court will monitor the trial and slated the hearing for July 9. It clear that today's hearing was confined to the issue of shifting the trial of the case out of J-K.
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 case from the local court in the "slightest possibility" of lack of fair trial, saying the "real concern" was to hold proper prosecution.
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.
(With Inputs from PTI)
