Rewind: A look back at 2010 Machil fake encounter case

The case is about three youths from the Valley,who were killed in a fake encounter and labelled as hardcore militants in 2010.

On April 30,2010,the Army had claimed that they had killed three infiltrators in the Machil sector along the Line of Control.

‘Will they punish killers? My son was like a phoulvun gulab’

Reyaz Ahmad,Mohammad Shafi and Shahzad Ahmad – all residents of Nadihal in Baramulla district- were reportedly lured by a former SPO Bashir Ahmad Lone and his accomplices to Machil on the pretext of getting them high-paying jobs in the Army and later handed over to Army for Rs 50,000 each.

The trio was later allegedly shot dead in a staged gun-battle near the Line of Control. Dubbed as Pakistani infiltrators,they were buried as unidentified militants. The case came to light when police found discrepancies in the FIR lodged by the Army unit and launched an inquiry into the incident.

GOC: Trust men but difficult to say every encounter correct

Following complaints from relatives of the victims,a Territorial Army jawan and two others were arrested by police but the incident led to unrest in the entire Kashmir Valley and widespread demonstrations in which 123 people were killed.

Eleven persons including nine army officials and two civilians were charged under Sections 302 (murder),364 (abduction),120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (common intent) of the Ranbir Penal Code (RPC).

Army begins court martial process

The army personnel against whom chargesheet was filed included Colonel D K Pathania of the 4 Rajput Rifles,Major Opendra Singh,Major Maurya (Adjutant),Subedar Satbir,Hawaldar Bir Singh,Sepoy Chadra Bhan,Sepoy Nagendra Singh,Sepoy Narendra Singh and Abbas Hussain Shah of the Territorial Army.

Army had removed Colonel Pathania from the commanding of his unit while Major Opendra,who was the second officer of the unit,was suspended after an internal inquiry was launched by the force.

Colonel,Major chargesheeted in Machil encounter case