New Delhi: Three college friends of a key accused in the sensational Kathua gangrape and murder case of an eight-year-old girl on Monday moved the Supreme Court alleging torture by the Jammu & Kashmir police and seeking protection from a central agency. A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud agreed to hear the plea of these students, who hail from the Jammu region of the state, on May 16.
Lawyer Ravi Sharma, representing students Sahil Sharma, Sachin Sharma and Neeraj Sharma, sought urgent hearing on the plea alleging that they and their families were being coerced by the Crime Branch of the Jammu and Kashmir police.
The Jammu-based students, who are pursuing B.Sc in Agriculture at a college in Muzzafar Nagar, Uttar Pradesh, are classmates of Vishal Jangotra, a key accused in the case, the plea said. The lawyer said the students were "coerced to make statements contrary to the facts that Vishal Jangotra was with them at Muzzafarnagar from January 7 to February 10. During that period, he along with petitioners attended examinations and practical papers."
"Petitioners were subjected to the physical and mental torture from March 19 to March 31 by Respondents (state police officers)," the plea said.
The lawyer alleged that the students were constrained to move the apex court seeking security as they faced "imminent threat to their lives at the hand of the Crime Branch."