Summary:
CHANDIGARH: The Pathankot district court, conducting the trial in the infamous Kathua rape and murder case , has directed the director general of police (DGP), Jammu and Kashmir, to look into the allegations of torture by one of the accused in the case.District and session judge Tejwinder Singh passed these orders on Monday, after all the members of special investigation team ( SIT ) of J&K police had filed their affidavits denying the torture charges. It has also been alleged that he was forced to depose against other accused.“Even a video conferencing of the accused was arranged with SIT chief Peerzada Naveed, who was in Kashmir, and asked to turn approver in the case. He was promised that he would not get any punishment in this case, if he agreed to their proposal,” his counsel had alleged.Reacting on the directions of probe to the DGP, the accused’s counsel advocate A K Sawhney said the DGP should first register the FIR against all these cops allegedly involved in torturing one of the accused. On July 2, one of the accused in the case had alleged that he was illegally picked up from Kathua jail on June 23, taken to crime branch office in Jammu in a sports utility vehicle of a woman DSP rank officer.It was also submitted that since he was in judicial custody, police could not have moved him from jail without permission of the trial court. Sawhney further claimed that it was high time that the matter be handed over to the CBI to ascertain the motive of Jammu crime branch in torturing the accused.Meanwhile, the counsel for the accused cross examined one of the revenue officials of Jammu, who had prepared seizure memos of the record pertaining to the case, and questioned the credibility of the record prepared by him.On May 7, the Supreme Court had shifted the trial to Pathankot, which is around 26 km from Kathua and had witnessed mass protests and triggered political crisis in the state over the investigation report of Jammu and Kashmir police..