Srinagar: The one-man judicial commission, appointed to inquire into circumstances leading to the killing of four persons by paramilitary CRPF in Shopian district on September 7 last year, shall be conducting the further proceedings on Tuesday.
According to GNS, the Inquiry Commission shall hold sitting at Circuit House Shopian on February 18.
On 4 October last, the government issued as SRO (434) regarding appointment of the COI for inquiring into the circumstances that led to firing by paramilitary CRPF personnel, killing four persons at Gangran Shopian on September 7.
He has been also tasked to ascertain identity of those killed and their involvement, if any, in militancy related besides fixing responsibility of the incident.
While four persons were killed on September 7, another youth was killed by the CRPF when a procession demanding withdrawal of the CRPF camp at Gagran was fired upon by the paramilitary forces on September 11.
Justice Koul, who discharged his duties as judge J&K High court from October 14, 1991 to October 31, 1994, was initially asked to complete the investigation within a month.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had on the second day of the Assembly’s autumn session announced the judicial probe into the Shopian killings.
“The probe has become compulsory. The statements issued everyday have only damaged the matter and made it murky,” Omar had said.
Omar had supported the police stand on the incident that one of the four persons killed in the firing was a “non-local militant” while antecedents of other three show that they had no militancy-related records in the books of police.
The trio included Tauseef Ahmad Bhat, of Baba Mohalla Shopian, Muhammad Yousuf Sofi, of Durpora, Zainapora, Shopian, and Tariq Ahmad Mir, of Wukai, Kulgam.
The judicial commission was announced after massive protests erupted in parts of Kashmir Valley particularly in Shopian. The south Kashmir district remained under curfew for fifteen consecutive days and later people observed strike for one more week before normalcy returned after 22 days. (GNS)