Court directs Army to provide verdict copy closing Pathribal

A local court today directed the Army to furnish a copy of the judgement pertaining to its decision to close the Pathribal fake encounter case, observing that the contentions raised in a petition against it were "genuine".

Chief Judicial Magistrate Srinagar Rajiv Gupta issued the order on the petition filed by the Kashmir High Court Bar Association.

"Contentions raised are genuine and well founded and are bracketed with the principles of fair trial and natural justice.

It is therefore, deemed expedient to direct Brigadier Adjutant to reply to this motion or in the alternative furnish copies of the judgment along with copies of chargesheet and documents annexed therewith before the next date," Gupta said in the order.

He said these documents will form part of the information rendered to the court in the case which was furnished to this court pursuant to conclusion of General Court Martial (GCM) proceedings by the competent military authority.

The court has listed the case for next hearing on February 10.

Five civilians were killed in a fake encounter on March 26, 2000 at Pathribal in South Kashmir with the victims being branded by Army as foreign militants.

Nearly 14 years after the fake encounter rocked Jammu and Kashmir, the Army early this month closed the case, saying the evidence recorded could not establish prime facie charges against any of its accused five personnel.

The Army decision has triggered an outrage in the Valley with Chief Minister Omar Abdullah saying he will take up this issue with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The case was handed over to the CBI for investigation in January, 2003. The CBI in its chargesheet concluded that officials and jawans of the Seven Rashtriya Rifles -- Brig Ajay Saxena, Lt Col Brahendra Pratap Singh, Maj Saurabh Sharma, Maj Amit Saxena and Subedar Idrees Khan had staged a fake encounter and killed five innocent civilians whom they said were terrorists involved in the massacre of 35 Sikhs at Chittisinghpora in south Kashmir on March 20, 2000.