SC directs Allahabad HC to monitor Hathras probe

The Supreme Court today directed the Central Bureau of Investigation, which is probing the Hathras gang-rape case, to approach the High Court with its status reports.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday said the Allahabad High Court will monitor the CBI probe into the alleged gang-rape case of a 19-year-old in Uttar Pradesh's Hathras alleged gang-rape.

Allahabad High Court will consider all aspects, and the CBI will file status reports there, the top court said.

The court was hearing a batch of pleas which sought court-monitored investigation into alleged gang-rape and murder of a Dalit girl in Hathras and transfer of trial from Uttar Pradesh to Delhi.

However, the three-judge bench headed by CJI SA Bobde said that it would consider the plea for transfer of the trial out of Uttar Pradesh only after the probe is completed by the CBI.

The court also requested the Allahabad High Court to remove details of the victim and her family from its order after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta brought this to the top court's notice.

The bench comprising Chief Justice S A Bobde, Justice A S Bopanna and Justice V Ramasubramanian had on October 15 reserved its verdict on a public interest litigation (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.

The lawyer, appearing for the victim's family, had told the apex court that trial in the case be shifted out of Uttar Pradesh to a court in the national capital after completion of investigation.

A 19-year-old Dalit woman was allegedly raped by four upper-caste men in Hathras on September 14. She died on September 29 at Delhi's Safdarjung Hospital during treatment.

Read:UP STF team visits Hathras victim's family

The victim was cremated in the dead of the night near her home on September 30. Her family alleged they were forced by the local police to hurriedly conduct her last rites. Local police officers, however, said the cremation was carried out "as per the wishes of the family"

During the hearing in the apex court, activist-lawyer Indira Jaising had also raised apprehension of not having a fair trial in the case in Uttar Pradesh.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had referred to the affidavit filed in the apex court by the Uttar Pradesh government which gave details about the security and protection provided to the victim's family and witnesses in the case.

Read:UP STF to probe conspiracy angle in Hathras case

The state government, which has already transferred the case to the CBI and has given consent to monitoring by the apex court, had filed the affidavit after the top court sought details on witness protection and on whether the victim's family has chosen a lawyer.

Referring to the compliance affidavit, Mehta said that victim's family has informed that they have engaged lawyer and they have also requested that government advocate should also pursue the case on their behalf.

(With inputs from agencies)