Sofi Ahsan

While one of the eight accused in the case has already been declared a juvenile by a Kathua court, a second accused, facing trial before the Pathankot court, moved an application last week for treating him as a minor citing his matriculation certificate.

The observation was made by a single bench of the High Court while dismissing the bail plea of a Hisar resident, who allegedly killed his sister for marrying a man belonging to a different caste last year.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has held that “forcible sexual intercourse” in a marriage and “adoption of unnatural means which are forced upon the other spouse” are valid grounds to seek a divorce.

Kathua rape case: The court is learnt to have issued summons to 17 witnesses for examination during the first day of the trial on Friday. Around 221 witnesses will be examined.

Faridabad lynching: The judge in the order also mentioned that he has found substance in the prosecution argument that mere long custody does not make the accused entitled to bail.

The High Court made this observation while ruling against the bail plea of Arvinder Singh, a resident of Pallian Khurd in Nawanshahr, who was arrested in May 2016.

Sources said the jail authorities in a written submission told the Pathankot District and Sessions Court that the district jail is only a sub-jail and it is not feasible to keep the accused in the Kathua rape-murder case there.

The translated documents, including the chargesheet and witness statements, were also provided to the defence counsels on Monday. The defence side will begin its arguments on the charges from Tuesday.

The issue stems from a Facebook post put up last year allegedly by Vashishth, who is also said to be a correspondent with a Hindi daily, regarding the judgment passed by a single bench in his personal cases against some BSNL employees, who he had alleged were involved in corruption.

During the in-camera trial, which began around 10.45 am and continued till 3 pm, the prosecution moved an application seeking directions to keep the accused in Pathankot District Jail during the pendency of the trial.

All the eight accused, including a juvenile, will be produced before the Sessions Court in the judicial court complex during the day-to-day trial.

The workers at the programme were given a kit containing a tutorial for the campaign, a list containing questions and their answers and also a ready-made speech to be presented by the speakers before village-level meetings.

In the pre-recorded speech, Kejriwal besides talking about the lack of development in the state is also asking people to think about the large-scale agitations in the state while blaming the political parties for causing them.

The division bench said that all the reports submitted in the court need to be examined in reference to the issues formulated by it in various orders.

The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, according to the preliminary report, has also told the CBSE that there is a need of 30 percent mandatory attendance to ensure effective participation of the children.

Nayyar has told the court he has been regularly facing harassment from the police because an SHO had been dismissed and convicted in criminal proceedings in the past on the basis of his complaint.

On the plea of two accused seeking same relief, it said “the same appears to be a last-ditch attempt on their part to delay the culmination of the proceedings.”

While the full bench also observed that there is no manual for the police to follow to protect the documents from unauthorised access, it lambasted the SIT and said, “You thought of giving everything. Give the CDs also,” and at the end of the hearing, called the documents an “open secret”.

The Health Secretary has also been directed to consult with medical experts and form an opinion as to whether the Sector 32 hospital still required the proposed separate trauma centre at Sector 53, which is quite far from the Sector 32 institute.