‘Army has done justice in Machil fake encounter case’

Panaji: The Army has done justice by handing down life imprisonment to five of its personnel, including two officers, in the Machil fake encounter case in Jammu & Kashmir, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said.


"In the encounter case, the Army has taken action. The Army has done justice. They always take action when something (wrong) happens," he told reporters during a visit to Goa Shipyard Ltd, about 40km from here.


Five Army men, including two officers, were sentenced to life for gunning down three youths and labelling them as militants in 2010. They were held guilty by the Summary General Court Martial, which sentenced them to life in prison. Responding to a question, Parrikar rejected suggestion that the verdict is linked to the upcoming Assembly elections in the militancy-affected State.


"The court martial had nothing to do with the elections. It was end of a due process," the Minister said.Moderate separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq demanded the Centre to open all cases of human rights violations over the last more than two decades in Jammu and Kashmir.


"The Government of India should open all cases of human rights violations... Over the last more than two decades. All cases of enforced disappearances and all other fake encounter cases," Moderate Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz said in his Friday sermon at Jamia Masjid .


He said the "Centre should also reopen the Pathribal fake encounter case in which Indian soldiers have been allowed to go free despite the findings of the CBI." Commenting over the statement of Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah who had termed the verdict as a "watershed moment", Mirwaiz said while the verdict is a positive step, it is premature to declare it a "watershed moment".