New Delhi: National Conference president Farooq Abdullah on Thursday demanded a judicial probe into the Hyderpora encounter as he deemed the “clean chit” given by the Jammu and Kashmir police’s special investigation team to security forces as “wrong”.
“The police report is wrong. Police have done it to save themselves. Police had killed them and there is no doubt about it,” Farooq Abdullah said while interacting with the media at the Tagore Hall, news agency PTI reported.
The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister sought a judicial probe to be announced for bringing out the truth of the Hyderpora encounter.
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“Police should not work like this wherein they cause pain to the hearts of people,” Farooq Abdullah said.
When asked about the delimitation commission’s draft report, he stated the National Conference has framed a response to the report and will submit it soon.
“We have framed a response to the delimitation panel’s report, which will be submitted to the commission. It will be made public soon,” he said, as quoted by PTI.
A Pakistani terrorist and three other persons were killed in Hyderpora on November 15. The police had claimed that all the slain men had links to militancy. On the other hand, the families of the three alleged foul play and said they were innocent, prompting the police to order the inquiry.
Besides this, a magisterial probe was also ordered by Lt Governor Manoj Sinha in the encounter which was one of the rare operations carried out jointly by the army and the Jammu and Kashmir Police within the city limits.
“Bullying Us Into Silence By Penal Action Warnings Will Not Work”: Mehbooba Mufti
PDP president Mehbooba Mufti also hit out at the Special Investigation Team probing the Hyderpora encounter after it threatened legal action against political leaders for making “speculative” statements about the investigation.
She took to Twitter and wrote: “In a tweet, the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said, Remarks on the SIT probe by different political parties isn’t mere speculation. They are grounded in facts. The administration’s aversion & discomfort with truth coming to the fore is well known. Bullying us into silence by ‘penal action’ warnings wont work”.
The tweet came after the SIT, on Wednesday, stated that speculative statements from the political leaders have a tendency to create provocation, rumour, fear and alarm among the general masses or particular section of society.
“This kind of approach is against the rule of law and may attract appropriate penal provisions as envisaged under law,” the chairman of the SIT said, as quoted by PTI.
The SIT further stated that the government had ordered a magisterial probe into the incident and all such persons making statements should have approached the inquiry officer with genuine evidence they have, for corroboration or contradiction.
“The SIT constituted in the instant case is still investigating the matter, all such persons are once again advised to provide any type of evidence if they have regarding the incident so that every aspect of investigation is covered and concluded on merits,” the statement read.
(With Agency Inputs)
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