The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed the trial of five Army personnel in the Pathribal encounter of 2000. The Army had moved the apex court claiming that the CBI investigation was being carried out without proper sanction from the Central Government. Hearing brief arguments by Additional Solicitor General Vikas Singh, who appeared for the Army, that the investigative agency didn’t take permission from the Ministry of Defence, a Bench of Justices B N Aggrawal and P P Naolekars stayed the trial and issued notices to the CBI and the Jammu and Kashmir Government for their response on the petition filed by the Army authorities. The Army personnel have been charged with killing five “innocent” persons in a fake encounter after branding them terrorists in Anantnag district on March 25, 2000. It was a joint operation of the Army and police. The incident took place days after the gruesome killing of 35 people in Chittisinghpura village by terrorists, a few days before the then US President Bill Clinton’s visit to India. The Army personnel had earlier challenged the CBI prosecution before the Chief Judicial Magistrate of J-K who rejected their plea. Subsequently, challenging the decision of the J-K High Court, which had upheld a Sessions court order, an appeal was filed. In the SLP, the Army took the plea that the trial court taking cognizance of the CBI’s chargesheet violated Section 7 of the Armed Forces (J-K) Special Powers Act, 1990, which mandated prior sanction. Under the Section, the investigating agency has to obtain prior sanction of the Central Government while prosecuting an Army official charged with any offence in the discharge of official duties, it contended.
