Srinagar: The Army has indicted half-a-dozen of its men, including two officers, in a fake encounter case and ordered them to be tried by court martial.
The April 30, 2010, staged gunfight in Macheal area, close to the LoC in Kupwara district, in which three innocent men were killed, had led to widespread disturbances across the Valley.
Police and Army investigations spread over three years have revealed that Major Upinder of 4 Rajput battalion entered into a criminal conspiracy with Abbas Hussein, a resident of Kamalkote village in Uri near the de facto border and a soldier of 161 Battalion of the Territorial Army, whom he knew from his days with the Army intelligence, apparently with a view to win medals and awards.
Hussein, with the help of former special police officer Bashir Ahmed Lone, his brother Abdul Qayyum and two others, Fayaz Ahmed Ikhwani and Abdul Majeed Butt, who had been working for the Army for quite some time, lured three youth of Nadihal village in Baramu-lla district — Shehzad Ah-med, Muhammad Shaffi and Reyaz Ahmed — to Machael on the promise that they would be given Army jobs.
Court martial ordered against six Armymen
The victims of the Macheal fake encounter — Shehzad Ahmed, Muha-mmad Shaffi and Reyaz Ahmed — were relocated to the 4 Rajput Battalion camp at Kalaroos, Kupwara district, on April 27, 2010, but since it was raining heavily in the area that day, Major Upinder asked his civilian collaborators to take them back and bring them to him again on April 29.
On April 30, he filed an FIR with the local police claiming that three infiltrating militants were killed in a firefight with his unit in Macheal sector, along the LoC.
The Army action against six of its personnel comes after its “court of inquiry” submitted its final report a few weeks ago on the fake encounter killing of three Nadihal youth.
A defence spokesperson here said, “A very detailed and exhaustive enquiry was conducted with the assistance of the
state police and judicial department to summon witnesses, record evidence and establish culpability of the accused personnel.”
He added that after detailed scrutiny, the Army has ordered court martial proceedings to take the legal process to its logical conclusion, “highlighting the Army’s resolve to ensure justice with speed”.
