SRINAGAR: Cracking the whip on the police for lax investigations in two Anantnag killings during the 2010 unrest, the state High Court on Monday gave authorities a final chance for a transparent probe, asserting that the case was deliberately not being conducted in the correct perspective.
Having taken over supervision of the case last month after slamming the government for partiality, Justice Virendra Singh today ordered the deputy superintendent of the police (DSP) heading the investigation to furnish an up-to-date report within four weeks and appear in court in person on every hearing, with a monthly-review by his superior.
Justice Singh, who had taken the case out of the hands of Anantnag chief judicial magistrate late November for his half-hearted approach, issued a slew of clear instructions to tighten the screws on the police, calling for reports and diaries duly signed by investigators.
The case relates to Anantnag locals Bilal Ahmad Najjar and Noor-ul-Amin Daga killed in forces firing on September18, 2010 during the funeral procession of one Marouf Ahmad Naath.
Naath had died by drowning on being chased by the police and the paramilitary forces five days earlier.
The initial first information report (FIR) over the killings filed by the police under a host of penal laws including destruction of public property had actually named the two victims Najjar and Dagga as the accused.
An FIR by the family was refused by the police even after the orders of the chief judicial magistrate on October 15, 2010, with the senior superintendent of the police challenging the order in the sessions court.
The sessions judge in Anantnag too struck down the CJMs order on March 29, 2011, and when the High Court upheld it (the CJMs order) nearly a year later on March 30 2012, the police said that it had already filed a second FIR on murder charges (in November 2011!) after the home department disallowed challenging the HC order in the Supreme Court.
In todays hearing, advocate Mian Abdul Qayoom appearing for the victims families said that the police was deliberately sitting on the investigation and had made no progress even on its own second FIR.
Concurring with the petitioners, Justice Singh said that though statements before the magistrate had been taken from five persons, the witnesses did not include a single member of the victims families.
The police has not bothered to approach the petitioners (for statements), which should have been done in the initial stages of the investigation, Justice Singh said.
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