The apex court had already transferred the Kathua rape criminal trial to a court in Pathankot in Punjab.
New Delhi: Alleging that Talib Hussain, key witness in the Kathua rape and murder incident involving a eight year old girl, has been in illegal custody, the Supreme Court has been moved by his cousin seeking release of Talib Hussain immediately. A three judge Bench of Chief justice Dipak Misra and Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and Ms. Indira Banerjee agreed to list the writ petition for hearing on Wednesday on a ‘mention’ made by Sunil Fernandez, counsel for the petitioner. The apex court had already transferred the Kathua rape criminal trial to a court in Pathankot in Punjab.
The petitioner, Mumtaz Ahmed Khan, cousin of Talib Hussain in a Writ Petition sought a direction to the Jammu and Kashmir government for immediate release of Talib Hussain from custody. She said that Talib Hussain, who played a crusading role as a social activist in highlighting the unfortunate rape and murder of the minor girl from Kathua, has been implicated with false rape charges and has been in custody from July 28.
It was alleged that Talib Hussain has been subjected to third degree torture of the worst kind, which the Petitioner believes has caused life-threatening injuries. This Court has held that custodial violence, torture in police custody/lock-up infringes Article 21 of the Constitution as well as the basic human rights and strikes and blow at rule of law.
