Hathras case: Supreme Court verdict on transfer of trial, court-monitored probe today
27-October-2020

The Supreme Court is set to deliver its verdict today on a batch of pleas seeking a court-monitored investigation into the Hathras case and transfer of trial to Delhi.

The Hathras case involves a girl who was allegedly raped and died of injuries in September. The victim was cremated in the night near her home on September 30. Her family alleged they were forced by the police to conduct her last rites. Police, however, said the cremation was carried out as per the wishes of the family.

The verdict was reserved by a bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde on October 15. Several intervention pleas of activists and lawyers were filed in the top court alleging 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 court that trial in the case should be shifted out of Uttar Pradesh to a court in Delhi.

Activist-lawyer Indira Jaising, representing interventions by women�s groups in the top court, had also raised concerns of not having a fair trial and requested the trial to be moved to Delhi. She had said that the jurisdictional court could either be the Delhi high court or the Supreme Court.

According to Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Uttar Pradesh government, the state had accepted the demand for a court-monitored probe and had no objections to periodic reports being filed. He had also referred to an affidavit filed in the apex court by the government which gave details about the security and protection provided to the victim's family and witnesses.

The Yogi Adityanath government has already transferred the case to the CBI and has given consent to monitoring by the Supreme Court.

The CBI took over the case on October 10.