The defence lawyers in the brutal rape and murder case of an eight year old nomadic girl of Rasana, Kathua, on Friday moved an application in the Pathankot sessions court alleging that they were getting life threats from certain elements in Kashmir, well placed sources said.
As many as 13 defence lawyers who go to Pathankot court from Jammu for daily hearing, submitted before court that they “are getting life threats on social media from Kashmir based Whatsapp groups and also on Facebook,” sources said.
“Our names, enrolment numbers, phone numbers, personal details, names of our family members, etc. are circulated on social media including the Facebook and also on the Whatsapp by some groups in Kashmir like the one namely Kashmir News Zone,” defence lawyer Aseem Sawhney told Greater Kashmir.
He said, “We brought the matter before the court and prayed that it should be taken on record.”
The defence lawyers pleaded before the court that “judicial notice” be taken in the matter. “How our personal details, phone numbers, names, etc. got leaked?” the defence lawyers said in the Pathankot court.
“We are being trolled, intimidated, abused and threatened to be killed if we along with our family come to Kashmir during holidays,” the defence lawyers told the court.
The defence lawyers also produced before the court the facebook posts and the Whatsapp messages regarding “threats”, sources informed.
“After hearing the defence lawyers, the court directed the public prosecutor to inform the Jammu and Kashmir Government and also the DGP, SP Vaid, about the matter so that necessary action is taken,” Aseem Sawhney said.
Meanwhile, sources informed that the court today rejected the application of the Crime Branch (CB) demanding that one of the accused Parvesh Kumar be allowed to be shifted to Jammu district jail for medical examination to determine his age.
Pertinently, the defence lawyers had moved an application and also produced some documents before the court demanding that accused Parvesh Kumar be declared as juvenile.
The court had ordered for ossification test of the accused to determine his age. “The CB demanded that the accused be allowed to be shifted to Jammu district jail for the test, which was opposed by the defence lawyers,” defence lawyer Ankur Sharma said.
After hearing both the sides, “the court dismissed the application and ordered that the accused will not be shifted,” the defence lawyer said.
Sources informed that all the defence lawyers today completed the cross-examination of the second witness, a member of the FSL team, who was present at the time of recovery of the body of the girl to collect evidence like clay, blood, etc.