New Delhi: The Supreme Court has indicated that it might shift the case of eight-year-old girl’s gang rape and murder out of Jammu’s Kathua if it feels that a fair trial of the suspects is not possible there.
“Fair trial is the consideration and we are concerned with the interest of the victim and accused. If we find the slightest possibility of a lack of a fair trial, we will transfer the case out of Kathua,” a bench led by Chief Justice DipakMisra said.

The assurance was held out when senior advocate Indira Jaising opposed the Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association’s claim that its members had never prevented Deepika Singh Rajawat, lawyer for the victim’s family, from appearing in HC.

The association made this assertion in an affidavit it filed in response to the suomotu (Latin for ‘on its own’) cognisance taken by the top court of media reports that Rajawat was blocked from appearing in the HC. The SC bench is also seized of another petition filed by the victim’s father, who wants the case to be transferred out of Jammu. The matter will be heard on Friday; the court wants to know the stand of the J&K government on the plea.
Justice Misra said a trial should be fair not only for the accused, but also for the victim’s family, and protection to them and their lawyers must be ensured. The court ruled out a CBI probe as demanded by lawyers of the accused and the Kathua bar association that has been accused of heckling a police team when it went to file a charge sheet on April 9. “We should be circumspect while transferring the case to another agency. And why should we suspect the police investigation. Also, the charge sheet has been filed in this case,” the CJI told the lawyers who had come from Jammu.