SC to hear Kathua witnesses plea alleging police harassment on May 16

The three witnesses had in their statement before the magistrate said they gave their statement to the police under coercion.

The Supreme Court will hear the plea of three witnesses in the Kathua gangrape and murder case, alleging that they are being harassed by the state police, on May 16.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud on Monday agreed to hear on Wednesday the plea of Sahil Sharma and two others, who are college friends of the juvenile accused in the case.

According to their plea, they had already recorded their statements before the police and the magistrate.

The three witnesses had in their statement before the magistrate said they gave their statement to the police under coercion.

The petition on Monday alleged that the state police was now asking them to re-appear and re-record their statements and exerting pressure in their families.

The apex court had on May 7 transferred the trial in the sensational Kathua gangrape and murder case of an eight-year-old girl from Jammu and Kashmir to Pathankot in Punjab, but refrained from handing over the probe to CBI saying there was no need as the investigation has been conducted and the chargesheet filed.

The victim, from a minority nomadic community, had disappeared from near her home in a village close to Kathua in the Jammu region on January 10. Her body was found in the same area a week later.

The state police has filed the main chargesheet against seven persons and a separate chargesheet against a juvenile in a court in Kathua district.