SC STAYS KATHUA TRIAL TILL MAY 7

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday stayed till May 7 the trial in Kathua gangrape and murder case of an eight-year-old girl, saying it was seized of the pleas seeking transfer of trial to Chandigarh and handing over the probe to the CBI.

: The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the trial in the gangrape and murder of an 8-year-old girl in Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir and asked the accused to respond to a plea for hearings be transferred to Chandigarh.

Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice Indu Malhotra stayed trial which was listed for hearing in a court in Kathua town on Saturday.

The top court said it would hear on May 7 the plea for the transfer of trial.

The Jammu and Kashmir government opposes the transfer of trial saying that it had a different penal code and transfer of trial would pose inconvenience to the witnesses in the case.

Meanwhile, the Centre on Friday told the apex court that it would extend whatever assistance was required from it.

The Centre is a respondent in a related petition seeking transfer of probe from the Jammu and Kashmir Police to the Central bureau of Investigation, a plea opposed by the victim’s father.

In January, the body of the minor girl from a minority nomadic community was found in Kathua.

The police charge sheet filed against seven suspects provided elaborate details of a plot to kidnap, rape and murder the child.