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Army convicts 7 men for Machil fake encounter in Kashmir

by IBNS 13 Nov 2014, 11:26 am

Srinagar, Nov 13 (IBNS) Seven army men, including two officers, were convicted and sentenced to life for the killing of three Kashmir youths in 2010 in a fake encounter in Machil in militancy-wracked state, said reports on Thursday.

All the convicted army personnel were given life imprisonment while all their service benefits have been suspended.
 
The Army had ordered court martial proceedings against the soldiers for their  involvement in the 2010 Machil fake encounter case.
 
Colonel DK Pathania, the Commanding Officer of 4 Rajput Regiment, the unit involved in the fake encounter, and Major Upinder  among others had to face court martial for their involvement.
 
On April 30, 2010, the Army said it had killed three infiltrators in the Machil sector, who they claimed were Pakistani terrorists. 
 
The three men who were killed were later identified as Shahzad Ahmad Khan, Riyaz Ahmad Lone and Muhammad Shafi Lone. They were all residents of Nadihal in Baramulla district. 
 
The victims' families alleged that the Army lured them to a border area on the pretext of giving them jobs. They alleged that the men were later killed and were claimed as terrorists.
 
In July 2010, the Jammu and Kashmir police filed a chargesheet against Col Pathania, Major Upinder and seven others in the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Sopore.
 
The court martial order came after an exhaustive enquiry was conducted with the assistance of state police and judicial department to summon witnesses, record evidence and establish culpability of the accused personnel.
 
Besides the officials, others convicted wre Subedar Satbir Singh, Havildar Bir Singh, Sepoy Chadraban, Sepoy Nagendra Singh and Sepoy Narinder Singh.