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Srinagar: The bail applications of Jammu and Kashmir police officers Javed Iqbal Mattoo and Rohit Baskotra, arrested in connection with the sensational Shopian murder case, will come up for hearing on Monday at a court in Shopian.
The pleas of the two officers were moved yesterday before the Sessions Court by senior Supreme Court lawyer Asim Mehrotra who flew into Srinagar to argue the case on behalf of Mattoo and Baskotra.
The Public Prosecutor had sought three days time to reply to the bail pleas. However, it was countered by Mehrotra saying that the state had “illegally” arrested his clients and that too without any evidence.
Mehrotra also cited the apex court’s direction for the expeditious hearing of the bail pleas in the Shopian case relating to the rape and murder of two women.
The Supreme Court on Friday had taken exception to the Jammu and Kashmir High Court’s order to arrest four police officers, including Mattoo and Baskotra, in the case and overturned some key directions of the court in this regard.
A bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justice P Sathasivam asked searching questions about the High Court’s order of July 15 directing the arrest of the officers and subjecting them to naraco-analysis tests and DNA profiling.