SC seeks response of ex-Himachal IGP on plea for transfer of custodial death case to Delhi

The Supreme Court Friday sought responses from former Inspector General of Police (IGP) Zahur Haider Zaidi and seven Himachal Pradesh policemen, accused in a case relating to the custodial death of a man, as to why the trial against them not be transferred to a Delhi court from Shimla.

Zaidi and other cops are to be tried in a local court there for allegedly killing in police custody a man who was among those arrested on charge of gang-raping a minor school girl in Kotkhai in Shimla district last year.

A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice S K Kaul, during the brief hearing, hinted that the court on its own may transfer the trial in the case against the former IGP and others to a Delhi court from Himachal Pradesh.

"If you (Zaidi) are not pressing for transfer of the case then we will suo motu transfer it to Delhi and we will ask the Delhi court to conclude the trial within six months," the bench said.

The top court also said, "It is not a case of simple 302 (murder). You are accused in a custodial death case."