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On Friday, the Supreme Court dismissed a plea by an accused in the Kathua gang rape and murder case seeking fresh probe in the matter on grounds that the investigation was allegedly motivated. A bench, comprising of Justices U ULalit and D Y Chandrachud, also rejected a separate plea filed by the two other accused in the said case seeking transfer of the investigation to an independent agency.
The bench, while declining both the pleas, said the accused can raise this issue before the lower court during their ongoing trial. In April, two of the accused were seeking transfer of the probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation, claiming that they were falsely implicated and arrayed as accused persons in the case.
The accused had said in their plea that according to Article 21 of the Constitution, a fair investigation as well as trial to the accused is guaranteed and it is absolutely necessary for the preservation of fundamental rights. Therefore, the investigation must be conducted in a fair, transparent and judicious way as it is the minimum requirement of rule of law.
On January 10, the victim, an eight-year-old girl from a minority nomadic community, disappeared from near her home in a village close to Kathua in Jammu region, in the same area where her body was found a week later.
The state police’s crime branch, which investigated the case, filed the main charge sheet against seven people and a separate charge sheet against a juvenile, which revealed chilling details about how the minor girl was allegedly kidnapped, drugged and raped inside a temple before being killed.
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