Kathua case: SC to hear at 2 PM two separate pleas

The Supreme Court today agreed to hear at 2 PM two separate petitions including the one filed by Kathua-based lawyer Deepika Singh Rajawat, representing the family of an eight-year-old girl who was gangraped and killed, alleging that she was facing threat to her life for pursuing the matter.

Another plea filed by Delhi-based lawyer Anuja Kapur, seeks transfer of the sensational gangrape case from Kathua trial court to a local court in the national capital.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud considered the submission advanced by senior advocate Indira Jaising, representing Rajawat and Kapur, for urgent hearing of the two petitions today itself.

"We have already passed the order on Friday," the bench said.

Jaising responded by saying that the earlier notice was issued to the bar associations but the issue at present relates to the threat faced by local counsel Rajawat.

The bench then agreed to hear the petitions at 2 PM today itself.

The top court had on April 13 taken strong note of some lawyers obstructing the judicial process in the Kathua gangrape and murder case and initiated a case on its own record, saying such impediment "affects the dispensation of justice and would amount to obstruction of access to justice".

The apex court had said that it is a settled law that a lawyer who appears for a victim or accused cannot be prevented by any bar association or group of lawyers, for it is his duty to appear in support of his client.

The minor girl had disappeared from near her home in the forests in Kathua, on January 10. Her body was found in the same area a week later.

The Crime Branch of police which probed the case filed a main charge sheet against seven persons and a separate charge sheet against a juvenile in a court in Kathua district.

Jammu has been on tenterhooks since the brutal incident. The bar associations have been opposing the action against the accused, alleging that the minority Dogras were being targeted.

Lawyers took to the streets shouting slogans and trying to block the road outside the court where the charge sheets have been filed.