Kashmiri Pandit organisation moves SC seeking probe into the killings during 1990s

According to Live Law, the curative petition was filed against a 2017 verdict of the Supreme Court which had dismissed the organisation’s petition for probe citing long delay.  

A Kashmiri Pandit organisation called ‘Roots in Kashmir’ on Thursday filed a curative petition in the Supreme Court seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or National Investigation Agency (NIA) probe into the killings of Kashmiri Pandits during the height of militancy in the valley during the 1990s.

According to Live Law, the curative petition was filed against a 2017 verdict of the Supreme Court which had dismissed the organisation’s petition for probe citing long delay.

On July 24, 2017, a bench comprising the then Chief Justice JS Khehar and Justice DY Chandrachud had said “No evidence will be available after 27 years. What happened is heart-wrenching but we cannot pass orders now,” LiveLaw reported.

Subsequently, the review petition against the verdict was dismissed on October 24, 2017, the report pointed out.

The fresh plea, seeking either a CBI or NIA probe, among other things, demanded: “Investigation and prosecution of terrorists like Yasin Malik, Farooq Ahmed Daar, Javed Nalka and others, for the murder of Kashmiri Pandits during 1989- 90, 1997 and 1998, and which are lying un-investigated by J&K Police even after expiry of 26 years, transfer of investigation of all the FIR’s/cases of murder and other allied crimes against Kashmiri Pandits in the year 1989-90, 1997 and 1998, to an independent investigating agency like CBI or NIA or any other agency, transfer of all the FIR’s/cases pertaining to murders of Kashmiri Pandits, from the State of J&K to some other State (preferably State of NCT of Delhi), so that the witnesses, who were reluctant to approach police or Courts in view of their safety concerns, can freely and fearlessly come and depose before investigating agencies and Courts.”

A certificate by a Senior Counsel is necessary for filing a curative petition, it added.