Cops accused in Wamiq Farooq’s killing want case shifted out of Kashmir

The two policemen, who are in judicial custody in the Wamiq Farooq killing case, have sought transfer of the case proceedings out of Kashmir.
The policemen have moved an application before the High Court at its Jammu wing. In the transfer petition filed before the High Court, where it was listed before the registry, one of the grounds cited by the accused policemen is that that they have a threat to their lives at the hands of complainant (father of slain teenager) and his counsel.
The other ground cited is that they did not have a lawyer to plead their case in Kashmir. Wamiq Farooq, a Class VII student, was killed by a teargas shell allegedly fired by the police on January 31, 2010, near the Gani memorial stadium in the old Srinagar city. Over 100 civilians were killed in the summer unrest that followed Wamiq’s death.
“The case was listed before the registry today, which has now put the matter for further proceedings in the first week of February,” a lawyer connected with the case told. He said the complainant family had already authorised him to plead the case on their behalf before the Bench at Jammu, adding that no relief or stay had been granted to the accused policemen in the petition.
The policemen, in their transfer petition, have alleged that the slain teenager’s father, who has vehemently opposed the bail to the accused, was backed by some “anti-national elements”.
As a relief, the accused policemen in the transfer application have sought to stay the proceedings of the case before the trial court in Srinagar and also sought the recall of the case record to a court in Jammu, the counsel said.
Earlier, in December, 2015, the accused policemen had levelled the same allegations against the complainant father, Farooq Ahmed, which were subsequently denied by him.
Farooq Ahmad, the slain teenage boy’s father, in his response before the Principal District and Sessions Judge, Srinagar, on December 31, 2015, had “vehemently” denied the allegations and submitted before the court that the accused policeman, ASI Abdul Khaliq, was seeking transfer of the case outside the state and that he was trying to carve out a ground for it by leveling false allegations against him.