Farooq seeks day-to-day trial in Kashmir sex racket case

Srinagar, Oct 18 (UNI) Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah today sought day-to-day trial in the sex racket case, which had rocked the state last year.

''There should be day-to-day trial or two to three sittings in a week for expeditious settlement of the sex racket case,'' he told a a news conference here.

The National Conference (NC) patron said there should be daily trial in the sex scandal case so that justice was done.

Asked why the NC had maintained a silence on the sex racket, he said there was a group of people who were spreading malicious propaganda about him and his party.

''Recently, there were rumours that I had died due to heart attack,'' Dr Abdullah said without naming anyone.

''What did we achieve after unearthing the case. The accused were charge-sheeted and the case has been shifted to Chandigarh. I feel sad when lawyers refused to take up the cases of the accused.

Everybody has a right to defend himself. When a person accused of murder is allowed to defend oneself, why not in this case? he asked.

The NC patron said the two former ministers, who were arrested by the CBI for their alleged involvement in the sex scandal and later released on bail by a Chandigarh court, should not have entered the Assembly unless proved innocent.

Dr Abdullah sought stern punishment for the politicians involved in the scandal. The sex racket had painted a bad picture of the coalition government and the people will vote it out of power in the coming Assembly elections, he added.

''Politicians and other people involved in the scandal should not be spared. They should get the strongest punishment under the law.'' As many as 18 people, including former ministers Ghulam Ahmad Mir and Raman Matto, senior IAS officer Mohammad Iqbal Khanday, DIG BSF K C Padhi, two state police officers and alleged kingpin of the scandal Sabeena have been arrested in connection with the sex racket case and presently facing trial in a court at Chandigarh.

UNI