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| Army closes Pathribal fake encounter case | | | EARLY TIMES REPORT
Jammu, Jan 24 : In a controversial decision, the Army has closed the infamous Pathribal encounter case saying it has found no evidence against its men, drawing angry reaction from Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah who plans to take it up with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Omar said it was ironic that here is a case in which CBI finds five army men guilty and army claims that it could not find any evidence.
"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 the Army authorities and intimation given to Court of Judicial Magistrate, Srinagar," said an official release announcing the decision to close the case.
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. The agency alleged in 2006 that five Army personnel-- Brig Ajay Saxena, Lt Col Brahendra Pratap Singh, Maj Saurabh Sharma, Maj Amit Saxena and Subedar Idrees Khan--were involved in the gunning down of five villagers and dubbing them as foreign militants before the media.
Army had claimed that those killed in Pathribal were mercenaries who were responsible for the gunning down of 35 members of the Sikh community at Chittisinghpora on March 21, 2000 when the then US President Bill Clinton was on a visit to India.
After a long court battle over not granting sanction to the CBI to prosecute the army officers, the Supreme Court came down heavily on the army for "blocking" justice. After this, the army ordered a court of inquiry into the case. Recalling the Macchil case, the release said the army had ordered a court martial against six accused persons in the army which was currently in progress. "The Army is very sensitive to all allegations of human rights and makes sure that due process of law is followed and action taken against the accused persons," the release said. "Extremely disappointed" over the army decision, an agitated Omar said the matter would be taken up with the Prime Minister when he visits the state early next month for the National Science Congress.
"The Prime Minister will be here to attend the National Science Congress and I will take up the matter with him," Omar said.
The Chief Minister said the probe was not carried out by the local police and the state government had no role to play in the investigations.
"CBI is an organisation under direct command of the central government and the state has no role," he added.
Terming the matter as "serious", he said it cannot be wished away like this.
"Extremely disappointed with the decision of the army and I have asked by Law Secretary to find out the future course of action," Omar said and added that guilty would not be spared.
CBI, while indicting five army personnel, had given a clean chit to the state police.
The CBI in its chargesheet had alleged that the army officials of Seven Rashtriya Rifles had staged a fake encounter and killed five innocent civilians whom they said were terrorists involved in an attack on Sikhs at Chittisinghpora in south Kashmir.
The CBI alleged that the killing of innocents was a result of "tremendous psychological pressure" on the army unit to show results after the killing of Sikhs. |
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