A court here Thursday transferred the bail hearing of two men accused in the death of Arunachal Pradesh student Nido Tania to a special designated court, saying that it has no jurisdiction to hear the matter.
Metropolitan Magistrate Pawan Kumar, listing the bail application of the two accused, Sunder Singh and Pawan for Friday, transferred the matter to a special court exclusively dealing with cases under the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Defence counsel S. K. Sharma and Shalabh Gupta apprised the court that their clients have been booked under the SC/ST act and so their matter can be taken up by a designated court exclusively dealing such offence.
The advocates said that their clients have not been booked under murder charges yet. Police said that murder charges will be added on the basis of the medical report of the victim.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Police has opposed the bail pleas, saying that the investigation in the case is at initial stage and medical report is still awaited.
They said the test identification parade of the accused is scheduled for Feb 13, and there are serious charges against the accused, who may tamper with evidence, if released.
The 19-year-old Tania was beaten up by shopkeepers in south Delhi's Lajpat Nagar area following a quarrel over his appearance and clothing. He died in a hospital Jan 30.
Pawan, Sunder and Farman were arrested Feb 3 and booked under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act for passing racist remarks against Tania.
Pawan and Sunder has claimed that they were "innocent witnesses" who were "illegally roped in as accused".
