State told to issue notification for CBI probe in Vidhu Jain murder

Chandigarh, Nearly a year after Malerkotla boy Vidhu Jain was burnt to death, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today asked the state to issue a notification for handing over the probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The direction came after the CBI informed the court that it had not so far received any formal notification or intimation from the Punjab Government to investigate the matter. As the case came up for resumed hearing, the Bench also directed the counsel for the state to inform the court regarding the issuance of the notification on September 29.

Earlier during the hearing, the state counsel also told the Bench that security was offered to the victim’s family, but it was not accepted by them. The counsel said the police had, however, made security arrangements around their residence.

Justice Paramjeet Singh had, on the previous date of hearing, virtually rapped the Sangrur Senior Superintendent of Police for failure to provide security to the family; and had given a week’s time to the CBI to submit its reply in the matter.

Seeking directions for a time-bound CBI probe into the entire matter under the supervision of a retired high court judge for speedy justice, Vidhu’s mother Arti Jain had earlier sought protection of life and liberty for 2,500 members of the Jain community living in the Malerkotla area, as they were allegedly targeted by a particular community.

She alleged her son was burnt by five youngsters of Malerkotla town in broad daylight, but the investigation agencies in the state did nothing to arrest the culprits.

She also sought direction to probe the role of police officials, who deliberately did not investigate the case properly and also failed to collect relevant evidence from the place of occurrence, which ultimately helped the accused.

The directive

The CBI informed the court that it has not so far received formal notification or intimation from the Punjab Government to investigate the case
Besides directing the state to issue a notification for the CBI probe, the court also directed the state counsel to inform it about the notification on September 29