'Fair trial of sex racket not possible in Srinagar'

Jammu, July 5: The Jammu Bar Association has reiterated that a ''fair and impartial trial'' of the high profile Kashmir sex scandal case is not possible in Srinagar even as the lawyers strike entered the eighth day today.

Addressing a press conference the JBA president Ved Raj Wazir and General Secretary Abhinav Sharma said the rule of law has been ''highjacked'' and the defence counsels are not safe in the summer capital.

''Keeping in view the hostile atmosphere, justice is not possible because people are mounting pressure on defence counsels.

In such circumstances, any advocate could not cross examine the witnesses in the court,'' Mr Wazir alleged.

''Every accused, including those in the sex scandal, had a fundamental right to defend himself and he remains innocent till charges are proved against him in a court of law,'' he added.

The JBA president reiterated that the strike will continue till their demand was accepted. He claimed that there was no difference of opinion in the association over agitation.

The lawyers remained absent from High Court as well as lower courts here for the eighth consecutive day.

They have started an indefinite strike last Wednesday against what they claimed a ''denial of right to defence'' and ''threat issued'' to the lawyers in Srinagar representing the accused in the sex racket case.

The Kashmir Bar Association (KBA), a party in sex scandal, had declared that no lawyer associated with KBA would be allowed to appear in the court on behalf of those arrested or chargesheeted in connection with the scandal.

UNI