J&K Machil fake encounter case: Seven Armymen sentenced to life

New Delhi: The Army has convicted seven of its personnel, including two officers, for their involvement in a staged shootout in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kupwara district in 2010, reports said on Thursday.All seven Armymen have been awarded life imprisonment for their involvement in the staged shootout.

In 2010, three youths – Mohamad Shafi, Shehzad Ahmed and Riyaz Ahmed, all residents of Nadihal in Baramulla district – were allegedly lured to a border area and shot dead.

The three youths were dubbed as Pakistani terrorists who attempted to infiltrate in the country.

However, residents had alleged that all three so-called infiltrators were unarmed civilians who were lured by some other civilians acting as sources for the Army by offering them jobs, after which they were taken to the LoC and framed as infiltrating guerrillas.

The Army ordered a probe into the killing after the police filed a report, accusing a Major rank officer of entering into a criminal conspiracy with some locals to eliminate the three youths by labelling them as terrorists.

Col DK Pathania, Commanding Officer (CO) of 4 Rajput Regiment, and Major Upinder of the same regiment, were named as the main accused by the J&K Police in the April 30 Machil encounter case.

In the aftermath of the alleged staged shootout, protests and ensuing clashes with security forces erupted in the Kashmir Valley, which resulted in the deaths of at least 110 people in 2010.

Police registered a case in the alleged staged shootout and later charged 11 Army personnel for framing the three civilians as guerrillas and later killing them.

Meanwhile, J&K Chief Minister welcomed the order against the Army officials. Further expressing his views, Omar tweeted: “I hope that we never see such #Machil fake encounter type of incidents ever again & let this serve as a warning to those tempted to try.”