Tags:
Journalism of Courage
The army has challenged the chargesheeting of five of its men 8212; four officers and a JCO 8212; for the Pathribal fake encounter. In a petition filed before a court in Srinagar last week, the army questioned the CBI for not seeking sanction of the Central Government before chargesheeting the five accused, which includes a serving Brigadier.
Following filing of the petition by a standing counsel of the Army, the Srinagar court has given the CBI one month to either file a reply on why sanction was not sought or to go ahead and seek a sanction.
CBI sources in New Delhi told The Indian Express that the issue of whether sanction was needed or not had been deliberated by them for weeks and that they would be filing a reply giving the grounds for their decision on the next date of hearing.
Earlier, the CBI8217;s legal panel, led by its Director of Prosecution DoP had opined that the brutal killing of five Kashmiris in Pathribal was done by Army officials attached to 7 Rashtriya Rifles in a manner which was 8216;8216;not in discharge of their official duty8217;8217; and thus no sanction was required.
The army, in its petition, has reportedly argued that the accused named in the CBI chargesheet were protected under Para 7 of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1990 and that since permission of the Central Government was not sought, the chargesheet should be quashed.
As reported earlier, the accused Army officers, led by a Brigadier, have already complained about the CBI action to the Army Headquarters saying they had been 8216;8216;singled out8217;8217; for the blame and that the Pathribal encounter was a joint action between 7RR and the J-K Police.
The Brigadier had written to the Director General of Military Operations DGMO that since they were protected under the 1990 Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 8216;8216;a sanction to prosecute be prevented at all costs8217;8217; by the Government.
