Crime
Kathua case: Should not be remotely inferred that there is any kind of harassment, says SC
The court was hearing the witnesses in the Kathua rape and murder case alleging harassment by the police
After the Supreme Court of India rejected protection to witnesses in the Kathua rape and murder case, the Apex Court has said that it should not remotely be inferred that there is any kind of harassment by the investigating agency.
The Supreme Court of India on Wednesday had refused to change the investigative agency in the Kathua rape and murder case.
The court also refused to give protection to the witnesses in the case, after three witnesses had in their statement before the magistrate said they gave their statement to the police under coercion.
While listing the case for hearing in the first week of July, the court also said that a relative will be allowed to accompany the witnesses, however the relative cannot enter the investigation room, but remain at a reasonably visible distance.
“We hope and trust the state shall carry the investigation in the most fair manner without pressurizing the witnesses. A relative of each of the witnesses shall be allowed to accompany him, but the said relative shall not enter into the investigation room,” the Court said.
Moreover, the court has also said that the state government should file their affidavit.
Recently, the apex court had said that the case will be shifted out of JK at the ‘slightest possibility of lack of a fair trial’. A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said its “real concern” was to see that a fair trial was conducted.
The trial should be fair for the victim’s family and for the accused, the bench had added.
The case was then transferred to Pathankot in Punjab.
