[Hathras Gang Rape] Allahabad High Court seeks status report from CBI, District court on progress of trial

The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court on Tuesday asked Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to file an affidavit indicating progress in the trial of Hathras gang-rape case [Suo-Moto In re: Right To Decent And Dignified Last Rites/Cremation v State]..A bench of Justices Rajan Roy and Jaspreet Singh also directed the concerned District Judge to obtain a status report from the trial court hearing the case before the next date of hearing."Counsel for the CBI shall file an affidavit of some competent officer indicating the progress in the trial. Let a status report be also requisitioned from the learned Trial Court through the District Judge, Hathras as to the status of Sessions Trial No.583 of 2020 before the next date," the Court observed..The bench was hearing a suo moto case initiated by the Court after it took cognizance of the Hathras gang rape and murder of a girl belonging to a Scheduled Caste in September 2020 and her cremation in the wee hours of the night by State authorities..In July this year, the Court had directed State government to consider granting employment to one family member of the deceased victim, and relocating the family to another part of the State keeping in mind their social and economic rehabilitation.On August 5, the Court had directed the Uttar Pradesh government to sensitize and counsel the officers and employees involved in cremation of bodies so that they strictly follow the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the same..During the hearing of the matter on August 30, the bench asked the State about the status with respect to the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for cremation of bodies. The counsel for State told the Court that the same is under process and will be finalized and notified soon..The Court then listed the case for further hearing on September 20.Advocates Abhinav Bhattacharya, Ajit Singh, Anjani Kumar Mishra, Ashish Kumar Agarwal, Atul K Singh, Atul Kumar Singh, Digvijay Singh Yadav, Jaideep Narain Mathur Ac, Nadeem Murtaza, Onkar Singh, Pradeep Kumar Singh, Seema Kushwaha and Sharad Bhatnagar appeared for the petitioners.Senior Advocate SV Raju, Advocates Anurag Kumar Singh, Ashok Shukla, Dr Ravi Kumar Mishra, Manjusha, Pranjal Krishna and Satyaveer Singh appeared for the respondents..[Read Order]