LUCKNOW: Declining a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking a judicial probe into Hathras rape case, the Allahabad High Court said it did not want to multiply the litigations in connection with the case as proceedings in one litigation were already pending before its Lucknow Bench.
A division bench, comprising Chief Justice Govind Mathur and Justice Piyush Agrawal, made the above-mentioned observation on Thursday while refusing to entertain the PIL filed by one Babita Upadhyay.
The court observed that since the Lucknow bench had been hearing the case after taking suo motu cognizance of the past midnight cremation of the victim’s body, it would not be proper to ‘multiply litigation’ by entertaining the present petitioner. “We are not inclined to multiply the litigation in relation to the issue which is already under consideration,” the Bench observed.
The court also declined to interfere in the proceedings while refusing to issue any directive to the state government or the authorities concerned in response to the petitioner’s request not to restrain the media and public at large to meet the victim’s family.
The petitioner had also sought a direction to the state government to formulate proper guidelines and provide adequate and uniform compensation to all the victims of gang-rape and murder without any discrimination.
The petition was disposed of with liberty to move an appropriate application before the Division Bench in Lucknow.
The latest hearing in the case pending before a division bench comprising Justice Pankaj Mittal and Justice Ranjan Roy in Lucknow was conducted on November 25 when the CBI had presented the status report of the probe it has been conducting in the case in compliance with the Supreme Court of India.
The Lucknow Bench of Allahabad High Court had taken suo motu cognizance of the Hathras gang rape case on October 1, calling it an “extremely sensitive” matter.