New Delhi: The Supreme Court has said that it will hear a petition on Wednesday by one of the accused in the December 16, 2012, gang-rape seeking the transfer of the trial outside Delhi.
The accused, Mukesh Singh, wants the case to be moved to Mathura in Uttar Pradesh or any other state, as he thinks he will not get a free and fair trial in the city.
Earlier on Monday the Supreme Court had said it would hear the petition on Tuesday but could not take up the matter due to lack of time. The case came before it Tuesday just before the lunch break, so it was not able to take it up.
An apex court bench of Chief Justice Altamas Kabir, Justice J. Chelameswar and Justice Vikramajit Sen directed the listing of the matter on Wednesday.
The trial in the case commenced in a fast-track court in Saket in south Delhi on Monday.
The petition said that Mukesh did not expect a free and fair trial in Delhi as the judiciary was under tremendous pressure because of the personal interest shown by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and others.
As well as the public pressure and unending public agitation over the incident, the petition drew the apex court’s attention to some of the statements made by the serving and retired judges of the higher judiciary who sought changes in the law for an expeditious trial of the accused.
The petition said the attitude of police and jail authorities was biased against the petitioner.
Ram Singh, Mukesh, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma and Akshay Thakur were charged with gang-raping and brutally assaulting a 23-year-old woman on a moving bus. The victim died in a Singapore hospital on December 29.
