Fake encounter: Father waits for justice, army says proceedings soon

SRINAGAR: A little over a year has passed but an anxious father is still awaiting justice for his son and two others who were killed in a fake encounter by an army officer in J&K’s Shopian.

And the wait gets longer as the army is still finishing legal work six months after completion of its internal inquiry.

The army had completed its Summary of Evidence against two of its soldiers involved in the Amshipura encounter in which three youths were killed and indications were that a court martial proceeding against one officer would be initiated.

In a parallel inquiry, an SIT constituted by the J&K Police had filed chargesheet against three persons including Captain Bhoopendra Singh for “staging a fake encounter” in the higher reaches of Shopian and killing three youths -- Imtiyaz Ahmed, Abrar Ahmed and Mohammed Ibrar, hailing from Rajouri district of Jammu region -- in Amshipura on July 18 last year.

“I have lost my son. I was very satisfied earlier with the pace of the probe but now it seems that my hope has started diminishing as nothing is moving since last December. I have received Rs five lakh from the Jammu and Kashmir administration. Is that the price of my innocent son and others killed in cold blood,” Mohammed Yusuf, father of Abrar Ahmed, said.

The army, however, maintained that the process of Summary of Evidence had been completed and the papers for the beginning of the final process were likely to be initiated soon.

“We will be completing the process soon and the person concerned is still in close custody (jail) with the army,” a senior officer said on the condition of anonymity.