Local court to hear bail of two ex-J

Srinagar, July 1 (UNI) A local court will hear the bail applications of two former Jammu and Kashmir ministers Ghulam Ahmad Mir and Raman Mattoo, allegedly involved in the sex racket, on Monday.

The court of Chief Judicial Magistrate also directed President of the Bar Association to suggest names of lawyers who will represent the accused in the court.

The bail applications of the accused ministers came up for hearing in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM), Srinagar Mohammad Yousuf Akhoon today. The CJM had earlier referred the bail applications of the accused to a division Bench on June 23.

On June 27, the CBI sent the two former ministers to a 14-day judicial remand.

Mir, a former Minister of State for Roads and Buildings and a Congress legislator from Dooru in Anantnag district, was arrested by the CBI from the Jammu and Kashmir House at Chanakyapuri in New Delhi on June 20.

Mattoo, a former Minister of State for Industries and Commerce and an independent legislator from Habba Kadal in Srinagar, was also arrested by the CBI from his residence at Gupkar here on June 20.

The CJM directed Bar Association to name a panel of lawyers which will represent the accused in the court. The Bar Association had earlier directed its members not to plead the cases of accused in the court.

Later, a group of lawyers from Delhi airdashed here to plead the bail application of Mir.

The sex racket case was handed over to the CBI by Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on May one following allegations that politicians, bureaucrats besides senior police and paramilitary officials were involved in the scandal.

As soon as the scandal surfaced, massive demonstrations erupted in the entire Kashmir valley and the angry protestors ransacked the houses of alleged sex racket kingpin Sabeena at Habba Kadal in the old city on June 5.

On May 3, the Jammu and Kashmir High Court took a suo motu cognisance of the case, and then on May 12, admitted a public interest litigation filed by the Kashmir Bar Association.

Since then, the High Court is hearing the sex racket case and monitoring the investigations into the scandal by the CBI.

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