SC holds off order on Unnao accident case transfer

The Supreme Court on Friday put on hold its order for transferring the accident case, in which the Unnao rape victim was severely injured, from a Lucknow court to national capital to enable the CBI to complete its ongoing investigation.

The apex court modified its Thursday order to the extent that only the accident case, which was one of the five cases transferred to Delhi, will not be shifted till the probe is completed.

The order was passed after the CBI mentioned the matter before a bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Deepak Gupta stating that due to the shifting of the case, the local court was facing a technical hurdle in passing orders of remand for the accused who are being arrested in course of the probe.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta placed before the Court a communication received from the concerned competent authority of the CBI stating that the investigation was in progress and arrested accused persons were required to be produced before a local court for their remand.

He submitted that due to the August 1 order transferring the five cases, including the accident case connected with the rape case, the Judicial Magistrate, CBI, Lucknow is facing the problem of jurisdiction and competence to pass orders on applications moved by the CBI, and also to pass remand orders from time to time in connection with the investigation as may be required.

Accepting the agency's submission, the bench said there was a need for modifying its August 1 order to the limited extent relating to the accident case.

The bench said the order transferring the accident case "shall remain in abeyance for the period during which the said case remains under investigation, which we have stipulated in the order dated August 1, 2019, to be completed in a maximum period of 15 days, preferably within 7 days. The order dated 1 August 1, 2019, is modified accordingly."

In an accident involving victim's car and a truck, the girl and her lawyer were severely injured. Two aunts of the victim had died in the accident.