Supreme Court hints at shifting Kathua rape case out of Jammu

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday hinted at the possibility of moving the Kathua gangrape and murder case out of Jammu, saying it’s a “real concern” to see that a fair trial is conducted.

A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra, Justices A.M. Kanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud made it clear to senior counsel Indira Jaising, appearing for the father of eight-year-old girl, that the trial should be fair not only for the accused but also for the victim’s family, and the protection to them and their lawyers should be ensured.

An inquiry into the conduct of lawyers of Kathua and Jammu may take the limelight away from the quest for justice for the victim. The bench also said that the court did not want to divert its attention from the aspect of fair trial.

“Let us not get into what the Bar Council says. If we do, the victim goes away from our attention. Our first concern and our constitutional concern is to ensure fair trial and procedure, to provide protection to the victim’s lawyer so there is no obstruction to justice and finally to transfer the case, if found necessary,” the CJI observed.

Ms. Jaising urged the court to fast-track the trial which should be monitored by this court.  

Earlier, counsel for Bar Council of India, which sent a fact finding team to Kathu, in its confidential report submitted that lawyers’ protests demanding a CBI probe into the rape and murder incident is justified. Advocate P.V. Dinesh on whose instance the court took suo motu cognisance of incident took objection to the report, which has missed a crucial issue whether a section of lawyers had obstructed filing of chargesheet.   

Meanwhile, two of the accused in the Kathua rape incident have strongly opposed in the Supreme Court the plea for transfer of the trial from Kathua court to a court in Chandigarh. The father of the eight-year victim girl had sought shifting of the case to ensure free and free trial.

Opposing shifting of trial outside Kathua court, two accused Sanji Ram and Vishal Jagotra said they have been falsely implicated in the case as accused 1 and 5 pending before the Chief Judicial Magistrate Kathua, where the charge sheet has already been filed. The applicants are directly affected if the trial is shifted outside Kathua without making them parties to the writ petition filed by victim’s father.