NIA court adjourns Samjhauta blast case

Panchkula: An anti-terror court trying the 2007 Samjhauta Express blast case on Thursday adjourned its hearing to March 18 due to an ongoing strike by local lawyers.Panchkula: An anti-terror court trying the 2007 Samjhauta Express blast case on Thursday adjourned its hearing to March 18 due to an ongoing strike by local lawyers.Special Judge Jagdeep Singh deferred the hearing because of the strike, NIA counsel Rajan Malhotra said. “We were not allowed to enter the court complex by the protesting advocates,” said Malhotra, adding the matter was adjourned to March 18. Local lawyers went on an indefinite strike on March 12 in protest against a judicial magistrate’s alleged misbehaviour with an advocate. Meanwhile, Mukesh Garg, counsel for accused Swami Aseemanand, sought to refute a Pakistani woman’s claim in her application to the court that the eyewitnesses to the blast from her country were not served summonses for deposition. Pakistani witnesses were summoned at least six times but there was no response from them, he said. Pakistani woman Rahila Wakeel, the daughter of a blast victim, Muhammad Wakeel of Dhingrawali village in Hafizabad district of Pakistan had moved the court on Monday seeking examination of the blast eyewitnesses from her country. On March 11, the court had posted the matter for Thursday. (PTI)