Kathua rape-murder: SC to hear witnesses' plea against police harassment
New Delhi, May 14: The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a plea by three witnesses in the Kathua rape-murder case who accused state police of harassment.
A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said the plea would be heard on Wednesday.
The plea filed by witness Sahil Sharma and two others, who are college friends of a juvenile accused in the case, said they had already got their statements recorded before police and a magisterial court.
They complained that police was now asking them to re-appear and re-record their statements and also exerting pressure on their families.
In their statement before a Magistrate, they had said that they gave their statements to police under coercion.
On May 7, the apex court had transferred to Pathankot the trial in the brutal rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl from a nomad family in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua because "fear and fair trial can't exist together".
The court had also ordered in-camera and day-to-day trial to ensure that witnesses felt protected and the accused felt safe.
The decision to transfer the trial from Kathua came on a plea by the victim's father.
The girl went missing on January 10 when she was grazing horses close to her home in Rasana village near Kathua in Jammu region. Her body was found in the same area a week later.
The Crime Branch of Jammu and Kashmir Police, which investigated the case and has already filed a chargesheet, claimed that eight persons were involved in the crime, including two policemen, a juvenile, and a former Indian Revenue Service officer.
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
