A local court here today dismissed the army’s petition that the CBI had no jurisdiction to prosecute the five senior army officials involved in the killing of five innocent Kashmiris in the infamous Pathribal case. “The court’s decision has gone in favour of the CBI,” the Investigating Officer, Ashok Kalra, told The Indian Express. However, the court has again sought the army’s opinion on whether they would like to go for a criminal trial of the accused or prefer a court martial for them. The army has to make its choice by September 15, when the case will come up for hearing. Army’s 15 Corps based at Badamibagh here had filed a petition before the chief judicial magistrate, Srinagar, that the CBI should have obtained prior permission from the Central Government before filing the chargesheet against the armymen. “For prosecuting the accused, sanction for prosecution as per the provisions of Section 7 of Armed Forces (J&K) Special Powers Act, 1990 should have been obtained (from the Central Government),” General Officer Commanding Hqrs, 15 Corps wrote to CJM. However, the CBI argued that the agency had no need to seek prior sanction “as the accused did not conduct any legitimate military operation in good faith”. “The five civilians were abducted and killed by the accused (five army officials) and others in a fake encounter to falsely claim that the militants responsible for the Chittisingh Pora incident of 20.03.2000 had been eliminated and thereby, to project their operational efficiency and effectiveness in the area and to neutralise the pressure from the public against the killings of the five civilians,” CBI reply said. “Thus, the acts of the accused herein do not come under the purview of discharge of official duties as provided under Sections 4 & 5 of the Act and therefore, sanction contemplated under Section 7 of the Act is not warranted”. The army had picked up and killed five civilians on March 25, 2000 and branded them as terrorists responsible for the massacre of 35 Sikhs on March 20, 2000, on the eve of the then US President Bill Clinton’s visit to India. Their mutilated bodies were later recovered from the graves, after the state government ordered their exhumation following massive public protests in the villages. Across the region, residents and protesters insisted that those killed in the supposed enccounter were not terrorists, but innocent civilians.
