File Picture Courtesy : The Asian Age
Supreme Court in a significant ruling has transferred the barbaric an inhuman Kathua rape and murder case to the Pathankot Court in Punjab.
The proceedings will also be held in-camera. The J-K government had submitted to the Supreme Court that it is ready for a fair trial in the state and had opposed the transfer of the case to another state.
The top court, however, accepted the plea by the victim’s father who wished the case moved to Chandigarh and transferred out of Kathua.
The SC also ordered that the media should not be gagged in the case. There has been no order on the CBI probe and the next hearing in the case will be on July 9.
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 shocking rape and murder caused nationwide outrage and people taking the streets in protest against women’s safety.
