District court rejects bail plea of three Indians who murdered Tibetan youth
By Lobsang Tenchoe
DHARAMSALA, August 16: The District court of Dharamsala on Tuesday rejected the bail plea of the three Indians charged with the murder of Tsultrim Chokden.
The three Indians, who are currently in police custody for murdering a Tibetan youth, Tsultrim Chokden on the midnight of Oct 30 last year, had their bail pleas rejected today at a court hearing, according to the plaintiff’s Advocate Tenzin Namgyal.
“Based on the evidence and documents we provided, the court today rejected the bail plea of the three accused persons,” Advocate Tenzin Namgyal said.
Apparently, this is the second bail plea filed by the three accused. Earlier on Jul 2, the court had dismissed the plea as the advocate defending the accused persons didn’t turn up.
“Everyone is innocent until found guilty in the court of law, but the graveness and the sensitivity of the crime led to the court rejecting their bail plea today. They can re-apply for a bail plea again at the District court or they can appeal at the Shimla High court,” the advocate added, explaining the technicality of the law.
The hearing of the murder case is at the end of the month and the three accused persons will get life-time imprisonment if they are proven guilty in the court of law.
“We have 15 witnesses along with the documents and evidences we presented before the court, out of them only two are Tibetans; the girl who the deceased was walking home and the former Tibetan Settlement Officer (TSO), Sonam Dorjee. Since Sonam Dorjee has moved abroad and couldn’t attend the case hearings any more, it hampers our case,” the advocate said.
Advocate Tenzin further encouraged the heads of various Tibetan NGOs to attend the court hearings and local Tibetans to pay more attention to the case.
“It is being falsely said that the girl has left abroad and the case has received not much attention from the Tibetan media as well,” he added.
The three Indian youth were drunk and followed Tsultrim Chokden and his lady friend, whom he was walking home after dinner. The three accused persons passed comments on them following which a fight ensued and the Tibetan youth was brutally stabbed and died on his way to the hospital around midnight on Oct 30 last year.
