Srinagar, Dec 21: The High Court on Wednesday listed the Surankote massacre case for next week and directed the Additional Advocate General (AAG) to file the status report regarding the investigation of the case.    
 “The court directed for listing the case next week as it couldn’t hear the case today   due to paucity of time,” counsel for the petitioners, Parvaiz Imroz told Greater Kashmir.
 He said the government has not filed the status report regarding the investigation of the case and the court asked the AAG to file it by the next date of hearing.
 The High Court on December 2 had directed the AAG representing the official respondents to file status report regarding the investigation into the killings of 19 members of three families at Surankote in Jammu’s Poonch district in 1998.
 The families of the victims, through their counsel, filed a petition seeking direction to the Government for reinvestigation of the case by a Special Investigation Team or Central Bureau of Investigation Team (CBI) or any other any other agency to unearth the truth and bring the accused to book.
  Morever, the families have sought directions to the state for implementing the recommendations of the State Human Rights Commission in the matter.
 Counsel for the families have contended  that on intervening night of August 3 and 4 in 1998, 19 members comprising six males and 13 females of three families were killed in the house of Hussain Muhammad Sheikh with alleged “active participation” of police and army men.
 The counsel has pleaded that Police Station Surankote had registered an FIR 122 of 98 under various criminal sections of RPC on August 4 but investigations were left incomplete. 
 Taking suo moto cognizance of the matter, the SHRC had first published an interim report and subsequently a final report was presented to then Chief Minister.
 In the final report, the SHRC recommended that the Home Department should issue directions to SP Poonch to identify the three accused SPOs involved in the crime . It had also recommended that the Unified Command was under obligation to take stock of the occurrence why the army men of the picket did not react at the time of the massacre.

Lastupdate on : Wed, 21 Dec 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 21 Dec 2011 18:30:00 GMT
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