NEW DELHI: India’s Supreme Court on Monday ordered the trial of eight men accused of the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl to be moved to another state after her family and lawyer said they faced death threats.

The girl, from a nomadic Muslim community that roams the forests of India-held Kashmir, was drugged, held captive in a Hindu temple and sexually assaulted for a week before being strangled and battered to death with a stone in January.

The victim’s relatives said they feared retribution if they pursued her case in the small town of Kathua, near where the girl was killed.

A bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra said the trial would be held in Pathankot in the neighbouring state of Punjab, and in camera, so that witnesses could be assured of protection.

“We are transferring the case to Pathankot from Kathua for a fair trial,” the court said in its order.

The case will be heard daily so that an early verdict can be reached, in a country where such cases can run for years, or even decades.

“The basic concern is fair trial, basic concern is speedy trial. That is the reason the court said there will be day-to-day hearing,” said Deepika Singh Rajawat, lawyer for the girl’s family, who cannot be identified under Indian law.

Rajawat had said she herself faced the risk of personal attack for taking up the case of the girl.

Published in Dawn, May 8th, 2018