New Delhi: The Punjab and Haryana High Court has upheld the order for four convicts of the Chandigarh special court in the 2006 J&K sex scandal case.
The special court had ordered 10 years rigorous imprisonment for Mohammad Ashraf Mir, Shabbir Ahmad Lave, Shabbir Ahmad Lungu and Masood Ahmad alias Maqsood, who were former DSPs of J&K Police.
The High Court also ordered the acquittal of former BSF DIG AK Padi, giving him the benefit of the doubt.
In a 140-page judgment Justice Arvind Singh Sangwan said that during the trial the defence counsel posed extremely objectionable questions to the rape victim in the trial court.
According to the orders of the Supreme Court, the defence cannot repeatedly seek detailed information from the rape victim. Despite this, objectionable questions were raised in its court. Justice Sangwan said in the verdict: All courts of Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana should ensure that such objectionable questions are not dealt with during the trial of the rape victim. If the defence asks such questions in the court, then the judge should not remain a mute spectator and interfere in the case.
The Supreme Court on April 22, 2019 in this case ordered the High Court to take a decision on the appeal against conviction in one year. The time for this was given till March 31.
In this case, the victim was raped for three years. The names of two ministers of Jammu and Kashmir and several MLAs were also revealed, due to which the Supreme Court transferred the case to the CBI. The case was later transferred to Chandigarh.
Bashir Ahmed, a resident of Srinagar’s Pursiyar locality, received a porn clip from a child. The boy told that in this clip there is a girl from his locality. He gave this clip to the social reform committee. After this, a complaint was made to the police by making its CD. The police started the investigation, then it was discovered that a woman named Sabina was running a prostitution business at her house and this girl was raped.
Hearing in the High Court was affected due to Corona. The case was first delisted and then re-listed on the orders of the Chief Justice. The case was re-listed on July 18 and the judgment was pronounced on appeal in about a month.
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Former Additional Advocate General of J&K Anil Sethi and businessman Maharajuddin Malik were also accused in the case, but were acquitted due to lack of evidence. The victim turned hostile against their statements.
Read the Judgment here;
punjab-and-haryana-high-court-judgment-21-aug-2020-India Legal Bureau