Shopian Fake Encounter: Army Starts Court Martial Against Officer Involved.

The Army on Monday began court martial proceedings against  Rashtriya Rifles Army Captain for the killing of three men in a staged encounter in Amshipura area of Shopian district of Kashmir in July 2020.

This decision comes after after a Court of Inquiry found that troops had “exceeded” powers vested under the AFSPA.

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The three men hailing from Rajouri district of Jammu region — Imtiyaz Ahmed, Abrar Ahmed and Mohammed Ibrar — were killed in a remote hilly village in Shopian district on July 18, 2020 and labelled as “terrorists”.

However, on the same day, J&K police distanced itself from the encounter and said in a statement that the input for the operation had come from the Army.

A month later, after coming across pictures of the “slain terrorists” on social media, the families of the three said they were labourers and that Mohd Ibrar, the youngest, was 16 years old.

On August 18, while setting up a probe into the killings, the Army said in a statement: “DNA samples have been collected from Rajouri under the aegis of JKP and sent for matching with the terrorists killed on 18 Jul 2020.”

Admitting that the three youths who were killed in an encounter at Shopian on July 18 were missing labourers from Rajouri, as claimed by their families last month, the Army had said its probe had “prima facie” found that its troops exceeded powers under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) — and directed disciplinary proceedings against those “answerable”.

The Army had ordered a Court of Inquiry into the encounter after the three families came forward to say the youths were cousins — one of them was reportedly 16 years old — who had gone to Kashmir for work and not been in touch since July 17 night.

“Consequently, the competent disciplinary authority has directed to initiate disciplinary proceedings under the Army Act against those found prima-facie answerable,” Army had said.

The Jammu and Kashmir Police had constituted a Special Investigation Team which filed a charge sheet against three people, including Captain Singh, for “staging a fake encounter” in the higher reaches of Shopian district and killing three men.

The charge sheet had alleged that Captain Singh had provided wrong information to his superiors and the police about the recovery made during the staged encounter.

he other two named by the police in its charge sheet are Tabish Nazir and Bilal Ahmed Lone, both civilians.

“By staging the encounter,” the three accused “have purposefully destroyed evidence or real crime that they have committed and also have (been) purposefully projecting false information as part of a criminal conspiracy hatched between them with the motive to grab” cash rewards, it said.

The Army had, however, denied that its captain staged the encounter for cash reward, saying there was no such system for its personnel for any acts in combat situations or otherwise in the line of duty.

“The evidence was destroyed by accused Captain Singh,” the charge sheet said, adding he along with the other two accused set fire to a shelter where the encounter had been staged.

The SIT charge sheet gave details of forensic analysis of the crime scene which was photographed “from all possible perspectives”. The FSL (Forensic and Scientific Laboratory) team recovered vital evidence that was seized.

The charge sheet submitted by the SIT listed 75 witnesses in support of its findings and also provided technical evidence, including call data records of the accused persons.

The identity of the three youths was subsequently confirmed through a DNA test. The bodies were handed over to their families in Baramulla in October 2020 and were later buried in their native village in Rajouri. PTI