Srinagar, Aug 19 - The Jammu and Kashmir High Court Wednesday deferred the hearing of the Shopian rape and murder case for a week following objections by the bar association to the state government's request to have it investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The division bench of the state high court comprising Chief Justice Barin Ghosh and Justice Mohammad Yaqoob Mir heard the public interest litigation filed before it by the local bar association.

The state government Wednesday filed an application before the division bench stating it was ready to have the case investigated by the CBI, subject to approval by the high court.

While the court observed it was the prerogative of the government to hand over the investigations to any agency it deemed fit to bring the guilty to justice in this case, Main Qayoom, the president of the bar association told the court the bar had serious reservations regarding the transferring of the investigations of this case to the CBI.

The high court asked the bar association to file objections to the state's application for transfer of the case investigations to CBI and deferred the hearing to next Wednesday.

The court also asked the Shopian Mashawarat Committee, formed in the wake of protests after the incident, to give its observations to the court regarding the government's request to transfer the investigations to the CBI.