The army might take over the trial of its five officers accused of murdering five innocent Kashmiris on March 25, 2000.
They are accused of blaming five innocent civilians for a massacre and killing them.
NEW DELHI: The army might take over the trial of its five officers accused of murdering five innocent Kashmiris on March 25, 2000 in Anantnag district.
The chief judicial magistrate of Srinagar, before whom CBI filed the chargesheet on May 12, had asked the army if it would like to court-martial the five officers or if it would want the civilian court to try them. The army has to file its reply by May 24.
Army sources say that they are inclined towards taking over the trial of the five-Brigadier Ajay Saxena, Lieutnant Colonel Brijendra Pratap Singh, Major Sourabh Sharma, Major Amit Saxena and Subedar Khan. The Army has not taken a formal decision, but sources said it would in all likelihood opt to try the officers under army laws. “We need to keep in mind the morale of officers and jawans operating in Kashmir and the northeast,” a senior army officer told DNA.
The question before the army, if it decides to conduct court-martial of the five people, is how would they treat the CBI report, and if it could ignore the CBI report. The CBI has chargesheeted the army personnel while absolving the Jammu and Kashmir police. The CBI said in a statement that it had not found any evidence to suggest that the local police had tipped off the army regarding the presence of the five terrorists. This goes against army’s claim that the entire operation was carried out on the basis of a tip off from the local police.
Brigadier Saxena and his wife have written to army authorities protesting the CBI chargesheet. In the letter Saxena and his wife also pointed out that the officers were merely carrying out orders from their superiors. The CBI found that the five were innocents and had no link at all to the massacre.
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