New Delhi: Mukesh, one of the six accused in the Dec 16, 2012 gangrape here, has moved the Supreme Court for shifting the case outside Delhi for ‘free and fair trial’.
Moving the apex court, Mukesh pleaded that free and fair hearing was not possible ecause of strong public sentiment against him in the city.
A fast track court in Saket in south Delhi would start hearing the case on January 21.
In view of regular agitations, police and judicial officials were under pressure to pass an order according to the demand of the agitators and fair hearing was not possible, said Mukesh, lodged in Tihar jail along with four other accused.
Mukesh’s lawyer ML Sharma, while filing the petition for shifting the case from Delhi to Mathura in Uttar Pradesh, said: “The sentiment has gone into the root of each home in Delhi by which even the judicial officers and state are not spared and in these circumstances, he cannot get justice in Delhi at all.”
The plea said due to media reports there were regular public agitations in Delhi.
“Political pressures are mounting to hang the arrested persons…Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and her party leader Sonia Gandhi are taking personal interest to get punished the petitioner and his co-accused,” the petition said.
Police filed the chargesheet against five accused on January 3 accusing them of murder and gangrape, among other charges. Ram Singh, Mukesh, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma and Akshay Thakur were charged with gangraping and brutally assaulting the woman in a moving bus. (IANS)