The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Allahabad High Court to monitor the ongoing Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the alleged gang-rape and death of a young Dalit woman in Hathras district of Uttar Pradesh last month.
The top court directed the CBI to approach the Allahabad High Court with updates on the probe.
A bench comprising Chief Justice SA Bobde, Justice A.S. Bopanna and Justice V Ramasubramanian had on October 15 reserved its verdict on a PIL and several intervention pleas of activists and lawyers who have argued that a fair trial was not possible in Uttar Pradesh as the probe has allegedly been botched up.
“So far as the transfer of the case to Delhi of the Hathras Case is concerned, it is appropriate for the agency [CBI] to conclude the investigation and the transfer issue is kept open,” Live Law quoted CJI Bobde as saying.
During the hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who was representing the UP government told the SC that proper security was being provided to the 19-year-old girl’s family. Mehta told the court that the gang-rape victim’s family had engaged advocate Seema Kushwaha as their private lawyer.
Mehta told CJI Bobde that the UP government does not have any objection to the family’s demand of an SC-monitored investigation.