The J-K High Court, which took suo motu cognizance of the sex abuse scandal, first reported by The Indian Express, reprimanded the CBI today for the lack of follow-up action after the minor victim had made “substantive and important disclosures” in her statement to the agency.

“The minor victim has made important disclosures, why did you not take action?” a division bench, led by Justice Imtiaz Hussain and Justice B A Kirmani, observed in the third hearing on a PIL filed by Kashmir High Court Bar Association on the matter.

In response, the CBI team, represented by counsel Shabir Naiko, said that the agency’s questioning of the accused in the case was still incomplete. However, the court expressed displeasure over the protracted interrogation.

“You have given Sabeena (the prime accused) and others time to think over it (the statements they are going to make),” the court said.

The High Court also gave CBI two days to file the recorded statements of the prime accused. The statements will have to be filed before the Senior Judicial Magistrate Maulvi Javed, the court said.

When Naiko claimed that procedural difficulties and the “independence” of the agency were reasons behind its inability to comply with this order, he court said: “Independence does not mean sovereignty. The stature and the texture of the investigation demands that the investigation be fair, impartial and honest.”

The court took exception to the CBI examining the victim first and subsequently questioning Sabeena. “Sabeena is the focal point of the scandal and you (CBI) will reach (the victim) through her,” the court observed. “But you have done it the other way round.”

... contd.