A PIL petitioner on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court to form a Special Investigation Team (SIT) comprising sitting and retired judges of the apex court to examine the brutal rape and murder of a 19-year-old Dalit girl at Hathras in Uttar Pradesh.
Petitioner, Satyama Dubey, represented by advocates Sanjeev Malhotra and Pradeep Kumar Yadav, suggested a SIT comprising sitting Supreme Court judges — Justices U.U. Lalit, D.Y. Chandrachud — and retired apex court judges, Justices M.B. Lokur, Kurian Joseph, R. Banumathi and Deepak Gupta.
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The petitioner, who has sought a fair probe into the crime, was responding to an affidavit filed by the Uttar Pradesh government in his case.
The State government has also made it clear that it wants a fair and free investigation.
“Please ensure that the investigation is supervised by the Supreme Court,” Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had conveyed the stand of the Yogi Adityanath government in court.
The affidavit filed by the State government had said there was a “criminal conspiracy to spread caste conflict and instigate violence”.
