Srinagar, Apr 16: The Supreme Court on Monday adjourned the Zahid Farooq killing case for two weeks listing the case for final hearing on April 30.
“The case was adjourned because the Solicitor General of India, R S Nariman representing the union government in the case was not available today to plead it,” Standing Counsel for Jammu and Kashmir in the Supreme Court, Sunil Fernandes told Greater Kashmir.
He said the case was listed before a division bench of the Apex Court comprising justices B S Chuhan and J S Khehar.
The Apex Court had adjourned the case on February 27 for two weeks and had said that the Pathribal case was to be disposed of soon and the decision would be applied in Zahid Farooq case as well.
The state government has filed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court wherein it has pleaded that action like murder, rape etc committed by defence personnel like Border Security Forces (BSF) cannot be considered as part of their normal duty hence they cannot get the benefit of Court Martial and they should be tried in the criminal courts of Jammu and Kashmir.
The state government and the complainant have filed two separate Special Leave Petitions against the judgment passed by Jammu and Kashmir High Court in two Criminal Revision petitions.
Two Criminal Revisions Petitions were filed by the government and the complainant, against the order passed by the CJM Srinagar wherein the court had allowed application of BSF seeking the trial of the two accused—BSF Commandant V K Birdi and his bodyguard in security forces’ court.
In the Criminal Revision Petitions, the order passed by the CJM Srinagar was challenged on the grounds that the accused were not discharging active duty at the time of incident and they could not be tried in the Security Forces Court as the alleged offences were civil and the accused could be tried in ordinary criminal courts.
The Criminal Revision petitions were, however, dismissed by a single bench of Jammu and Kashmir High Court with the observation that the accused were on active duty on the day of commission of the offence and there was no need to examine the nature of their duty.
Zahid Farooq was killed in BSF firing ear his house in Nishat area on the outskirts of Srinagar on February 5, 2010.

Lastupdate on : Mon, 16 Apr 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 16 Apr 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 17 Apr 2012 00:00:00 IST