Kathua Rape: SC seeks J&K's response to plea against custodial torture of witness
New Delhi, Aug 8: The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought the Jammu and Kashmir government's response to a petition alleging "custodial torture" of Talib Hussain, who was part of an agitation that had erupted following the gang rape and murder of an eight year old girl in Kathua in January.
Police arrested Hussain in the wake of an FIR against him in the rape case.
The petitioner Mumtaz Ahmed Khan has alleged that Hussain was being framed for his role in the campaign to ensure justice for the child victim who was from a nomadic community.
Issuing notice to the state government, a bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud also sought the assistance of the Advocate General of Jammu and Kashmir.
Appearing for the petitioner, senior counsel Indira Jaising told the court that she was only concerned about the custodial torture and not with any other issues.
Jaising cited several judgements of the top court and that of the US Federal Court contending that even in custody a person enjoys his constitutional rights.
As the court asked why habeas corpus petition has been filed when arrest of Talib Hussain is lawful, Jaising said that arrest may or may not be lawful but the custodial torture makes things unlawful and therefore the habeas corpus petition.
As Justice Khanwilkar said that the relief that petitioner was seeking could be given by the magistrate court, Jaising said that "I will seek my remedy when it comes to bail".
The court allowed the lawyer Chandan Sharma for the rape victim to make an application for impleadment as he told the bench that what it has been told was a distortion of facts.
The petitioner has contended that Talib Hussain -- an activist -- was being singled out as he had led the public campaign for justice for the Kathua victim.
The court posted the matter for further hearing on August 21.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
