Srinagar, May 16: Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to change the investigating agency in Kathua gangrape and murder case, reports said.
According to the ANI news agency, the court refused to give protection to the witnesses in the case that has sparked massive outrage across the world.
Three witnesses had filed a writ petition in Supreme Court alleging torture by Jammu & Kashmir Police while recording their statements.
Citing the importance of witness protection, the petitioners had urged that their safety be ensured and had prayed that any recording of their statements by police should be videographed.
The court, according to the report, has fixed the matter for hearing on May 17.
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court had transferred the trial of the Kathua rape and murder case outside of Jammu & Kashmir to the district and sessions court of Pathankot, Punjab.
An eight-year-old girl belonging to a nomadic Bakerwal community was abducted, drugged, gang-raped, tortured and killed in January, according to the police chargesheet.
The state police’s Crime Branch, which probed the case, filed the main chargesheet against seven persons and a separate chargesheet against a juvenile in Kathua.
The chargesheet has revealed chilling details about how the girl was allegedly kidnapped, drugged and raped inside a place of worship before being killed.
Kathua guilty will be punished: BJP J&K chief
Srinagar, May 16: Ravinder Raina, the Jammu and Kashmirt, said on Wednesday that the guilty in the Kathua rape and murder will be punished.
Raina arrived in Srinagar today after he was named the party’s state president.
Talking to the media on the sidelines of a BJP function here, he said that as a law student “I know that the Kathua rape and murder case is sub-judice and we need not comment on it, yet I know that the most powerful institution in our country is the judiciary.
“Those guilty of this heinous crime would get exemplary punishment and no innocent person would suffer.”
In January, an eight-year-old girl from Kathua was abducted, gang-raped and murdered, triggering widespread outrage.
Srinagar, May 16: Ravinder Raina, the Jammu and Kashmirt, said on Wednesday that the guilty in the Kathua rape and murder will be punished.
