August 8, 2018
Today the Supreme Court sought response from the Jammu & Kashmir govt on a plea by Talib Hussain, a key witness in Kathua gang rape & murder case, alleging custodial torture by the state police in an alleged fake rape case.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra considered the submission of Senior Advocate Indira Jaising that Hussain had been brutally tortured in police custody & judicial intervention was needed.
The bench also comprising Justice A M Khanwilkar & Justice D Y Chandrachud asked the senior lawyer to explain as to how a writ of habeas corpus (produce the body) can be filed in the present case as the accused, Hussain, is in lawful custody of the Police.
Senior Advocate Indira Jaising referred to a Supreme Court judgement & said that such a petition can be filed even in case of custodial torture.
The bench asked the state govt. to file the response in one week & asked the lawyers to serve a copy of the petition on the Advocate General of the state.
It also permitted the woman, who had lodged an FIR against Hussain alleging rape, to file an application seeking to intervene in the matter.
The bench posted the matter for further hearing on 21st August.
The Court was hearing the submission of a close relative of Hussain, seeking urgent hearing on the plea. The relative of Hussain sought his protection in police custody & alleged that he had been brutally beaten up in the alleged fake rape case.
The habeas corpus writ petition, filed by a cousin of the witness, alleged that Hussain had been kept in illegal detention & was being subjected to custodial torture.
Hussain is a key witness in the Kathua case, in which an 8-year-old girl from a minority nomadic community was abducted, overdosed with sedatives, gang-raped, tortured and killed by eight accused men in January.
The state police's crime branch, which probed the case, filed the main charge sheet against 7 people & a separate charge sheet against a juvenile.
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