Sessions court to hear sex case on July 22

Srinagar, Jul 18: A Sessions court here has fixed July 22, the next date of hearing in the sex racket case in which two former ministers, a senior IAS DIG, BSF and police officers are involved.

As the case came up for hearing in the Sessions court today, the judge directed the accused, including Deputy Inspector General of Border Security Force, former Additional Advocate General of Jammu and Kashmir, a police officer, kingpin Sabeena and five others to engage lawyers to defend themselves.

He later fixed July 22 as next date for hearing the arguments on a challan filed against the accused by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), probing the entire sex racket.

The challan was produced by the CBI in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) here on July 15.

However, hearing the bail application of five accused, the CJM had said the offences levelled in the challan will be tried in the Sessions Court and directed the accused to appear in the court on July 18.

Yesterday, the CJM deferred the bail application of former Jammu and Kashmir minister Raman Mattoo till July 21.

The CJM has also rejected bail to former Jammu and Kashmir Minister and sitting legislator Ghulam Ahmed Mir and senior IAS officer Mohammad Iqbal Khanday, arrested by the CBI in connection with the sex scandal, saying their release would have damaging effect on the investigations of the case. A former minister and sitting Congress legislator from Dooru in Anantnag, Mir, was arrested by the CBI from the Jammu and Kashmir House at Chanakyapuri in New Delhi on June 20 while 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.

However, DIG BSF had surrendered before the CBI here on June seven while Sethi, who was evading arrest since a proclamation notice was issued against him on June 14 by the CJM following a request by the CBI, also surrendered in a local court at Jammu on June 21.

On June 29, the CBI arrested Khanday, an IAS officer of 1978 batch and Principal Secretary in the Planning and Development Department.

The sex racket case was handed over to the CBI on May one following allegations that politicians, bureaucrats besides senior police and paramilitary officials were involved in the scandal.

Massive demonstrations erupted in the entire Kashmir valley and the angry protestors brought down the houses of alleged sex racket kingpin Sabeena at Habba Kadal in the old city on June five as soon as the scandal surfaced.

On May three, the Jammu and Kashmir High Court took a suo motu cognizance 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.

UNI

Related Stories