By Neetika Jha
The Gautam Buddha Nagar district judge on Wednesday granted the accused in the 2015 Mohammed Akhlaq lynching case one last opportunity to submit all relevant documents in regard to an application they have moved seeking a transfer of the case to another court, listing the matter for hearing on January 22.
On January 8, the defence lawyers had informed the fast-track court of Additional District Judge Saurabh Dwivedi that they have moved a plea before the district judge seeking transfer of the case to another court.
Citing incomplete paperwork, the counsel of the accused, Dinesh Kumar, on Wednesday sought an adjournment from District Judge Atul Shrivastava, who was hearing the transfer application.
Opposing the request, counsel for Akhlaq’s family, Andleeb Naqvi, informed the court that the accused had earlier delayed proceedings by filing the transfer application on January 8, preventing the recording of witness statements.
“We informed the district judge that Akhlaq’s wife Ikraman had come to record her statement before the fast-track court, but since they moved the transfer application, the judge did not proceed further and adjourned the court for a fortnight,” he said.
Following this, the district judge acknowledged that Ikraman’s statement could have been recorded on January 8, as there was no stay on the trial. He subsequently examined the adjournment order and comments recorded by the fast-track court.
The district judge then went on to grant a final opportunity to the accused’s counsel, scheduling the next hearing for January 22. He also warned that the transfer application would be rejected if there were any further delays.
This story was originally published in indianexpress.com. Read the full story here.
