Five army men have been awarded life sentence for a staged encounter in April 2010 in which three youths were killed in Machil area of Jammu & Kashmir’s Kupwara district, Army sources said.
The Army’s General Court Martial (GCM) in Kashmir awarded life imprisonment to the five soldiers, including a Commanding Officer, for killing the three youths.
The verdict came less than a week after the Army apologised for killing two car-borne youths in a shootout at Chattergam on the outskirts of Srinagar on November 3 after they failed to stop at three checkposts and were mistaken for militants.
In the Machil case, the three labourers were lured through a gang of local counter-insurgents and killed to be passed off as foreign infiltrators. The Army unit planned the killings to earn awards and laurels before conclusion of its deployment period in the embattled Valley. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah described the verdict as “watershed” and a “warning to those tempted to try (such incidents)”.
The India Chapter of Amnesty International welcomed the decision and described it as an indication of the Army’s “commitment to deliver justice for victims of human rights violations in Jammu & Kashmir.”
The killings triggered massive anti-India protests in Kashmir in the summer of 2010 and threatened the stability of the Omar Abdullah-led coalition Government. More than a hundred protesters were killed by the police and security forces in a bid to bring the situation under control.
Defence sources confirmed that five soldiers, including the then Commanding Officer, of 4-Rajput Regiment Colonel DK Pathania and Major Upinder were awarded life term and their service benefits were suspended.
The GCM was set up in December 2013 when a Court of Inquiry confirmed the involvement of these soldiers.
The Regiment was deployed in Machil sector in 2010 and was under orders to move out of the Valley after completing their stay when the officers allegedly roped in three locals, including Territorial Army personnel to stage the encounter. Shahzad Ahmad Khan, Riyaz Ahmad lone and Muhammad Shafi lone of Nadihal Village in Baramulla were lured by the Army’s contacts to work as porters but they were killed in a fake encounter and passed off as infiltrating militants. The incident embarrassed the Government and Army top brass.
The Jammu & Kashmir Police played a major role in unearthing the fake encounter after it investigated the complaints that three youths were missing from Nadihal Village. The investigations led to exhumation of the bodies, which confirmed the identity of the slain men.
Police filed a charge sheet against Col Pathania, two Majors, a Subedar and Havildar and four soldiers and two civilians in July 2010.
The Army simultaneously ordered a Court of Inquiry headed by Brigadier GS Sangah, the then Commander of 68 Mountain Brigade, which conducted an extensive enquiry based on the police charge sheet and deposition of eyewitnesses and relatives of the slain youths.
The eight-member GCM proceedings began in January 2014 and were presided over by Brigadier Deepak Mehra, Commander of Kupwara-based 68 Mountain Brigade. The two accused civilians figuring in the charge sheet, Bashir Ahmad lone and Abdul Hamid Bhat, are facing trial in Sessions Court Baramulla. The Court Martial has exonerated one Major in the case.
The relatives of the victims have demanded justice in the case. “We are poor people but we want justice. While the Army men have been convicted, the civilians in the case should be hanged”, Ayesha, mother of Shahzad Ahmad Khan said.
Referring to the verdict the India Chapter of Amnesty International welcomed the decision. “The military court verdict in the Machil case should be followed by justice for the many other cases of human rights violations in Jammu & Kashmir,” said Shailesh Rai, Programmes Director at Amnesty International India.