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| J&K sex scandal case hearing fixed for Dec 5 | | |
CHANDIGARH, NOV 20
Even as the CBI supplied copies of statements of witnesses to the defence, a local court today fixed December five for arguments on a plea of five accused in the Jammu and Kashmir sex racket case for trial by a judicial magistrate.
Sitting MLAs Raman Mattoo and G A Mir, bureaucrat Iqbal Khandey, Mohammad Yusuf Mir and Mohammad Riyaz Kawa -- who were booked under Section five of under Section five of Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act (PITA) in the case -- had argued that the Sessions Court had no jurisdiction to hold trial under this Section.
District and Sessions Judge B S Mehndiratta also reserved order on the bail pleas of 13 of the 14 accused till pendency of the matter before Punjab and Haryana High Court here.
While seven accused had pleaded for lodging them in Srinagar Central jail, former BSF DIG K C Padhi and Anil Sethi, who is a son of former Supreme Court judge R P Sethi, had sought permission for a visit to a temple in Hoshiarpur during the last hearing on November three.
After the CBI submitted copies of statements of witnesses, the defence objected that the same were still in coded form while these should have been decoded.
However, the CBI contended it had complied with Jammu and Kashmir High Court orders that the identity of witnesses had to be protected.
One accused Anil Sethi claimed they were not allowed to hold discussions with their counsels before the commencement of court proceedings.
"We are suffering prejudice. We have been deprived the right of defence," he said adding that "our counsels are only permitted to sit at a distance from us by jail authorities when they visit us". At this, the judge observed he always allowed them to meet their counsels in the court room and ordered that the jail manual be gone through and he be intimated about the rules in this regard.
The court also directed the CBI to hand over the mobile phone of Mehrajuddin to him.
Fourteen persons were facing trail in the case, including Iqbal Khandey who is out on interim bail.
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