New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday (December 18) gave two weeks of time to separatist leader Yasin Malik and five others to respond to a plea filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to transfer the trial in two terror cases from Jammu to the national capital.
A bench comprising Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Manmohan noted that six accused in the case have not filed their response to the plea of the CBI and asked them to file their responses.
“If trial is to be transferred then all accused have to be heard,” the bench said.
CBI is seeking transfer of two cases from Jammu court to Delhi
The CBI is seeking the transfer of two cases from a Jammu court to New Delhi, including the case of the kidnapping case of former Union minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s daughter Rubaiya Sayeed.
The bench was also informed that one accused Mohammed Rafiq Pahloo is no more and the trial against him would abate.
What did the apex court say earlier?
The apex court, during the earlier hearing, had noted that all the accused persons had to be heard before it passes an order to transfer the trial from a Jammu court to Delhi and had directed the CBI to amend its petition and implead all accused persons as respondents in the matter. The CBI later amended its plea and impleaded all accused persons as respondents.
What has CBI submitted?
The CBI has submitted before the court that there were security concerns and separatist leader Malik couldn’t be taken to Jammu for the trial in the case. It told the top court earlier that there is a fully functional court in Tihar Jail itself, where Malik is currently serving life sentence in a terror funding case, with all facilities of videoconferencing also and he need not be physically produced before the Jammu court.
The apex court is hearing an appeal filed by the CBI challenging an order by a Jammu court directing Malik be produced before it physically to cross-examine the prosecution witnesses in the Rubaiya Sayeed kidnapping case as well as its plea for transfer of the trial from a Jammu court to Delhi.
