Saahil Suhail
Anantnag, Mar 11: Aimed to uphold the principles of justice and timely conclusion of much hyped Pathribal encounter case army today recorded the statements of atleast ten witnesses in this regard at Victor Force presently stationed at Awantipora of South Kashmir, sources said. Sources said that at least ten witnesses pertaining to case and considered to be vital for the case proceedings recorded their statements while appearing before the army court that was moved to Awantipora to facilitate the recording of statements.
Pertinently these witnesses earlier have expressed inability to travel outside Kashmir, citing the difficulty to travel Nagrota for recording the statements, sources said.
They said that the procedure of recording statements begin today morning and continued till evening hours. "In the case so far, statements of 26 prime witnesses including army, police and government officials have been recorded, however some of the witnesses couldn't record their statements before the army court as they faced difficulties to travel Nagrota as the General Officer Commanding 16 Corps is based at Nagrota, they added.
Sources within the defence forces said that after break of few days the court will record the statements of further witnesses.
It needs to mention here that consequent to the orders of Hon'ble Supreme Court of May 2012, Army had taken over the Pathribal Encounter Case from Chief Judicial Magistrate, Srinagar.
After hearing the charges preferred by the CBI, the General Officer Commanding (GoC) 16 Corps based at Nagrota had directed recording of the 'Summary of Evidence' against the accused Army personnel. Accordingly, the summons was served to all the witnesses including the family of the deceased. However, ignoring repeated summons, issued to witnesses caused inordinate delay in the proceedings of the case. |
