Srinagar, August 19: Jammu and Kashmir High Court on Wednesday said it has no objection to the state government’s decision to transfer the Shopian rape and murder case to CBI.
The division bench of the High Court comprising Chief justices Barin Ghosh and Mohammad Yaqub Mir said the court is concerned only with unveiling the truth.
“We have no objection to the government’s decision to refer the case to CBI. We are only monitoring the case. We will intervene only if CBI appoints below rank officers to investigate the case as senior police officers have been arrested in connection with the case,” it said.
Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ali Mohammad Sagar told reporters that the state government will proceed only after receiving a formal order from the court.
State Advocate General Ishaq Qadiri had submitted an application to the court seeking permission for transferring the case to CBI after the government gave the assurance to state Assembly on August 12.
State High Court Bar Association, which had filed a PIL objecting to the transferring of the case to CBI, said the record of the investigating agency was “not good”.
Bar President Mian Abdul Qayoom said they will file the objections on the next hearing of the case on August 26.
Bodies of 17-year-old Asiya and her 22-year-old sister-in-law Neelofar Jan were recovered near a stream in Shopian, 52 kms from here, on May 30 triggering massive protests across Kashmir valley.
-Agencies