Civil society demands judicial inquiry in Pathribal encounter

Two civil society groups have demanded a judicial inquiry by a Supreme Court judge into the Pathribal fake encounter, saying the "self-acquittal" by the Army in the case had a potential of aggravating a sense of alienation and resentment among people in Kashmir.
"We are very much shocked and disappointed with the result of the court martial enquiry relating to Pathribal encounter in which army claimed to have killed five terrorists while the local villagers have claimed that the deceased were innocent," said a joint statement by Kuldeep Nayar and former Chief Justice of Delhi High Court Rajindar Sachar.
Nayar is president of Citizens for Democracy (CFD) while Sachar is a former President of People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL).

They noted that the CBI had inquired into the matter and submitted before the Supreme Court that it was a "cold blooded fake encounter."
"It is strange that the Army has claimed that there is no evidence. This self acquittal by the Army will only aggravate the sense of alienation and resentment among the Kashmiri people.
"We therefore urge upon the Government to set up a judicial inquiry headed by a Supreme Court judge to investigate into allegations of fake encounter relating to killings of five persons by the Army on March 25, 2000 at Pathribal in Anantnag, Jammu and Kashmir," it said.

The Army had last week closed the infamous encounter case saying it has found no evidence against its five personnel.

Its decision drew angry reaction from Chief Minister Omar Abdullah who said he will take up the matter with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
CBI, which had taken over the case in 2003, had filed a charge sheet in 2006 before Chief Judicial Magistrate in Srinagar in which the agency had alleged that five personnel--Brig Saxena, Lt Col Brahendra Pratap Singh, Maj Saurabh Sharma, Maj Amit Saxena and Subedar Idrees Khan--were involved in the fake encounter.
The agency had alleged that the five personnel were involved in gunning down five villagers and later dubbing them as the foreign militants before media. The army personnel also claimed that these persons were responsible for killing of 35 Sikhs at Chittisinghpora on March 21, 2000 when the then US President Bill Clinton was on a visit to India.

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.