‘Affidavit of JK HC, likely to be taken more seriously than controversial, contradictory BCI report’

The legal experts also said that apparently there is no possibility of the transfer of the Kathua rape and murder case to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as the investigative agency Crime Branch of Jammu and Kashmir police has already produced charge sheet before the trial court.

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Senior advocate of Jammu and Kashmir High Court and leading constitutional expert of the state, Zaffar Ahmad Shah said, “the affidavit of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court and the report of district and session judge Kathua in the eyes of law is most likely to be taken more seriously than the controversial and contradictory report of the Bar Council of India. The Bar Council of India is just a group of lawyers but the Jammu and Kashmir High Court is the apex court in the state and district and sessions judge Kathua is the presiding officer of the trial court. As far as the shifting of case to any place outside Jammu and Kashmir is concerned I personally believe it would be in the interests of justice to shift the trial court from Kathua to Ramban the neutral place between Srinagar and Jammu.”

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Senior advocate of Jammu and Kashmir High Court Zaffar Ahmad Qureshi said, “the report of the Bar Council of India is full of contradictions and blunt lies and I believe the Supreme Court of India won’t take the report of Bar Council of India more seriously than the affidavit of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court and the report of the District and Sessions judge Kathua.”

Qureshi added, “The five member team of the Bar Council of India has deviated from the points of reference given to it by the Supreme Court and has supported the demand for CBI enquiry. Instead of protesting and blocking the filing of charge sheet the lawyers could have filed a suit before the Jammu and Kashmir High Court as the lawyers in Kashmir had done in the case of 2006 sex scandal and 2010 murder mystery of two Shopian women Asia and Neelofer. As far as the issue of transfer of the case to any place outside Jammu and Kashmir is concerned I don’t think it will be in the interests of justice to shift the trial of the case to any court outside Jammu and Kashmir including Chandigarh. We have a bitter experience of the 2006 sex scandal case the trial of which was transferred to Chandigarh Court where all accused got the acquittal. It would be in the interests of Justice if the case is transferred to any place in Jammu region excepting Kathua and Jammu.”

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(With inputs from KNS)