The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday entrusted the follow-up of the investigation into the Hathras gangrape and murder case to the Allahabad (HC) High Court and left it open on the transfer of the trial from Uttar Pradesh (UP) to Delhi after The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) completes its investigation.
The CBI, which launched the investigation into the case on October 10, will now report its progress to the HC. The HC will also determine the transfer of the trial and security to the witnesses and relatives of the victim.
Read also | UP policemen gather evidence of Kerala scribe’s role in incitement to violence in Hathras plot
The order was approved by a SC bank, headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) SA Bobde, Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian, who had reserved their orders in the case on October 15.
The order came after a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking a court-supervised investigation by Satyama Dubey, a social activist.
Several lawyers and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have also joined the demand to move the trial outside the UP and provide security for witnesses in the case.
Currently, the UP police authorities provide twenty-four hour protection to witnesses and relatives of the victim. The petitioners demanded that the central forces assume the security functions of the UP Police.
The higher court has also ordered the HC to remove the name of the victim and his family members from the order sheet while it takes cognizance suo motu (alone) of the procedure.
The Attorney General (SG) Tushar Mehta pointed out to the CV the HC’s lapse during the last hearing on October 15.
Defender Seema Kushwaha, who represented the victim’s family, prayed in high court to move the trial to Delhi after the IWC investigation ended.
SG Tushar Mehta, who represented the UP government, had submitted to the SC that he had no objection if the investigation is supervised by the court or security is handed over to another agency.
The UP Police maintained that any such order would not reflect the authorities in question in low light.
The gang rape and murder of a Dalit teenager (19) had occurred in the Hathras district of UP and had occurred on 14 September. He had succumbed to his injuries in a Delhi hospital a fortnight later.
The UP government authorities had performed their last rites in the darkness of the next day under the protection of the UP Police.
The HC had taken note of the victim’s hasty cremation on his own without showing his face to his family members.
The matter is still pending before the HC.
So far, UP Police have arrested four upper caste men, Sandeep Singh, Ravi, Ramu and Luvkush Sikarwar, for their alleged role in the gang rape and murder of the Hathras victim.
The defendants are housed in Alipur Prison in Delhi.
.
