The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Jammu and Kashmir Police to transfer the accused in the alleged rape and the murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua to Gurdaspur district jail in Punjab, PTI reported. The accused are currently lodged in Kathua district jail in Jammu and Kashmir.
The bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra directed the police to file a supplementary chargesheet in the case within eight weeks. It also allowed the litigants in the case to move the Punjab and Haryana High Court in case they feel aggrieved by the trial court orders.
The bench also ordered that the trial will be held in-camera and rejected the Jammu and Kashmir government’s plea to hold the trial by video-conferencing.
The top court directed the governments of Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir to provide security to the trial judge and the special public prosecutor in the case. “The Jammu and Kashmir government shall ensure that the family of the accused is allowed to meet them at Gurdaspur jail at its expenses,” it added.
Eight people, including a minor, are accused of murdering an eight-year-old girl after allegedly raping her over several days in Kathua district in January. The police said in the chargesheet that the accused had kidnapped, drugged, gangraped and then killed the girl. The case sparked nationwide protests after two Bharatiya Janata Party ministers in the Jammu and Kashmir government attended a rally organised in support of one of the accused.
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