Let Allahabad High Court deal with Hathras case, says SC

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday indicated that it may leave the Allahabad High Court to decide the course of the Hathras rape and murder case. The top court may also decide to transfer the case for trial outside Uttar Pradesh. A three-judge bench led by CJI SA Bobde also said it would take a call on whether the victim’s surviving family members needed to be protected by the CRPF instead of the police who were blamed for delaying the filing of an FIR and later disposing of the body.

However, the state, through Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, claimed that the state was “non-partisan” and had taken all steps to ensure the security of the family and witnesses. “There is no need for CRPF protection,” he said.

Mehta said the family has been given protection, including CCTV surveillance, to ensure their safety. Uttar Pradesh DGP, through senior advocate Harish Salve, told the court that if it wanted it could assign CRPF for the task. “We are not averse to CRPF being assigned to protect them (victim’s family) but the court must clarify that this was no reflection on the state police,” said Salve.


The state also pointed out that the family had chosen its own lawyers to defend the case. Lawyer Seema Kushwaha, representing the family, urged the court to transfer the trial to the national capital. The court reserved its verdict on this plea.

Lawyers such as Indira Jaisingh and Kirti Singh urged the top court to appoint a public prosecutor to handle the case. Under fire for the hasty action of police in disposing of the body, Uttar Pradesh had recommended a CBI probe into the incident. The CBI has taken up the case. The state claims that the young woman was killed due to previous enmity between two families and that no rape had taken place.

However, the victim’s family claims that the Dalit girl had stated in her dying declaration that she was gang-raped by the accused belonging to the upper caste Thakurs. The state alleged that the entire incident was a plot to create chaos and defame the government.