Panel says punish guilty cops

A three-member sub-committee, formed by the Mufti Mohammad Sayeed government to probe the killing of five villagers who had been described a...

A three-member sub-committee, formed by the Mufti Mohammad Sayeed government to probe the killing of five villagers who had been described as Lashkar-e-Toiba mercenaries responsible for the killing of 35 Sikhs at Chittisinghpora on March 20, 2000, is set to recommend severe punishment to the 8216;8216;guilty8217;8217; officers.

The Mufti government has of late come under severe criticism for not being able to stop 8216;8216;custodial8217;8217; killings.

The committee, which has as its members Deputy CM Mangat Ram Sharma, Finance Minister Muzaffar Hussian Beigh and Minister of Food and Supplies Taj Mohi-ud-din, is likely to submit a report during the Cabinet meeting on July 23.

8216;8216;The report is ready. The committee, after studying the circumstances that led to the killing of the five civilians, will recommend severe punishment to the guilty,8217;8217; a committee member said.

Investigations reveal the five had been picked up from the nearby villages of Brariangan, Halan and Anantnag town and were killed in a fake encounter at Zontengri peak at Panchalthan.

Following the killings, relatives of the five staged demonstrations across Anantnag, forcing the government to order a judicial inquiry into the incident. On April 3, 2000, as the protesters marched to the DC8217;s office, police opened fire on them, killing 10.

Under public pressure, the government then suspended then senior SP, Anantnag, Farooq Khan and the then SHO besides ordering exhumation of the bodies and a DNA test to ascertain their actual identity. Subsequently, on April 6, 2000, a team of forensic experts from the Government Medical College, Srinagar, arrived at Panchalthan to collect DNA samples. The government later ordered that DNA samples be taken from the relatives of the victims also to find out the truth. Sources said the DNA samples were tampered with by government officials.

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In March 2002, the government asked the CFSL, Kolkata and CFSL, Hyderabad to take fresh DNA samples. The report of the DNA tests that arrived from CFSL, Hyderabad revealed that the samples had been tampered with before being submitted.

Earlier, on April 9, 2001, then deputy commissioner of Anantnag G.A. Peer, quoting the report submitted by the Special Investigating Team of police set up under court orders, not only admitted that the five were actually innocent villagers but also ordered the government to grant Rs 1 lakh ex-gratia relief to the next of kin of the victims.