JAMMU : Jammu and Kashmir government is contemplating a legal challenge to the Army’s closure of the infamous Pathribal encounter case.
“Yes, we will take to legal recourse,” state Law Secretary Mohmmad Asharaf Mir told.
“We are first awaiting the judgement pertaining to the closure of the case by Army,” he said.
Asked whether the government will move the J&K High Court on the issue, Mir said, “Yes, after we get the judgement copy and we study it and then move onwards.”
The state government has written to the Centre seeking a copy of the judgement of the verdict of the Army on the closure of the case and the clean chit given to five officers, he said.
In a controversial decision on January 23, the Army closed the case, saying it has found no evidence against its men.
“The evidence recorded could not establish a prima facie case against any of the accused persons but clearly established that it (the Pathribal encounter) was a joint operation by the police and the Army based on specific intelligence.
“The case has since been closed by Army authorities and intimation given to Hon’ble Court of Judicial Magistrate, Srinagar,” an official release announcing the decision to close the case had said.
The closure drew angry reaction from Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who plans to take it up with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
“Extremely disappointed with the decision of the army, I have asked by Law Secretary to find out the future course of action,” Omar Abdullah had said.
After a raging controversy over the 2000 encounter in which five civilians were killed on the ground that they were foreign militants, the case was handed over to the CBI.
CBI, which had taken over the case in 2003, had filed a charge sheet in 2006 before Chief Judicial Magistrate in Srinagar in which the agency had alleged that five personnel – Brig Saxena, Lt Col Brahendra Pratap Singh, Maj Saurabh Sharma, Maj Amit Saxena and Subedar Idrees Khan – were involved in the fake encounter.
Meanwhile, main opposition party in the state PDP today called on Governor N N Vohra and demanded re-opening of the case.
A PDP delegation led by Shangus MLA Peerzada Mansoor Hussain along with locals met the Governor and demanded fresh investigation in the case a time-bound manner, a party spokesman said.
The MLA from Shangus, under whose constituency Pathribal falls, said it was all due to denial of justice and lack of transparency and accountability in the system that alienation among Kashmiris had been increasing.
All institutions, including Army and other security forces, should be made accountable, the MLA said and urged the Governor to take up the issue with the Defence Ministry. (AGENCIES)
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