Kashmir court reserves order in fake encounter till July 14

Srinagar, June 21 (UNI) A local court here today reserved its judgment till July 14 in the fake encounter case of Muslim cleric Shoukat Ahmad Kataria.

Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM), Srinagar, Aijaz Ahmad reserved his judgment after hearing arguments from both the sides.

Army counsel Anil Bhan said the charge-sheet filed by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the state Police was not maintainable and should be returned as the prosecution had not sought prior sanction from the Centre.

He said troops working in Jammu and Kashmir were protected by the Armed Forces (Special) Powers Act and to prosecute anyone of them, a prior sanction was required from the Centre as provided under section seven of the Act.

On October 4 last year, Mr Bhan said the Special Task Force (STF) had sent a message to senior Army officials, requesting them to get ready for a joint operation in Sumbal-Ganderbal area following a tip off that a foreign militant was present there.

Immediately, troops of 13 Rashtriya Rifles and the STF personnel launched a joint operation on the same day during which a foreign militant, Abu Zahid, a resident of Pakistan, was killed, he added.

Mr Bhan said the STF personnel identified the militant because they had launched the operation and the Army had just assisted them.

''The Army had assisted the police only in good faith,'' he added.

The Army counsel said the police had also prepared a report of seized weapons on October 5, 2006.

The CJM court is hearing an application moved by the Army seeking returning of the charge-sheet against five Army personnel.

The SIT, probing the fake encounter of five civilians, has charge-sheeted five Army personnel, as many police personnel and one civilian in the killing of Kataria, a cleric who was allegedly abducted by security forces from Zadibal area of the city and later killed in Ganderbal last year to claim cash rewards and out of way promotions after dubbing him a foreign militant.

While the policemen, including suspended Superintendent of Police Hans Raj Parihar and his Deputy Bahadur Ram and a cleric Mohammad Ashraf Khan are accused of murdering Kataria, the Army personnel - Col Vikram Singh, his Deputy V K Sharma, Major Rishi Khanna and junior commissioned officer Puran Singh and naik Satpal Singh - have been accused of hatching a criminal conspiracy.

The prosecution replied to the Army plea saying since the accused officials had killed a civilian under a ''conspiracy'', which was outside the purview of discharge of official duties, there was no need for seeking sanction for trying them. He also sought the transfer of the case to a sessions court.

After hearing arguments from both the sides for two hours, the Judge reserved his judgment till July 14.

In April, the court had given Army 15 days to decide whether they would proceed against the accused in a General Court Martial or allow a civil trial.

On April 12, the SIT filed the charge-sheet against 11 people, including five Army personnel and as many police personnel, in connection with the killing of Kataria. The main case would be taken up only after disposal of the Army petition.

UNI