Srinagar: A Sessions Court here Tuesday adjourned till May 23 a Criminal Revision Petition with regard to the murder of Kashmiri Pandit Satish Tickoo in February 1990.
1st Additional Sessions Judge Srinagar put off the case till May 23 following an email by advocate Utsav Bains, counsel for the Tickoo’s family, who sought deferment of the hearing on the grounds that security had not been provided to him.
While granting the adjournment, the Sessions court posted the revision petition challenging the order passed by a Magistrate court on September 1 last year whereby the application seeking direction to complete the investigation with regard to killing of Kashmiri Pandit Satish Tickoo in February 1990 and filing of the charge-sheet was dismissed in default ( non appearance of the counsel), on May 23.
In his revision petition Maharaj Krishan Tickoo submits that his brother Satish Tickoo was a social activist Kashmiri Pandit who was extending support to other Kashmiri Pandit Families who had lost their loved ones.
He contends that on February 2, 1990 Farooq Ahmad Dar alias Bitta Karate along-with co-accused fired gun-shots at Tickoo at his residence in Habba Kadal due to which he sustained fatal injuries and was shifted to SMHS Srinagar where he was declared as dead.
The petitioner submits that on July 19, 2021, he moved an application under Section 156(3) Cr.P.C. before the Judicial Magistrate for monitoring of the investigation and calling of progress report in connection with the incident of his brother’s killing at Habba Kadal besides seeking a direction to the Investigating Officer to complete the investigation and file the charge-sheet at the earliest.
He submits that on September 1, 2021 the application was listed before the Judicial Magistrate / Special Mobile Magistrate/ Railway Magistrate Srinagar and at 9.16 am, before the hearing of the matter, his counsel contacted criminal Clerk and informed him that as adequate security arrangements vide Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) notification upon order of the Supreme Court had not been made by CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force), he would not be able to appear in the matter and had sought an adjournment. The counsel, the petitioner said, requested the Criminal Clerk to apprise the Court about the adjournment.
He submits that the Judicial Magistrate / Special Mobile Magistrate / Railway Magistrate Srinagar instead of adjourning the matter as requested by his Counsel dismissed the same for default, i.e., non-appearance for counsel. This order is under challenge in the revision petition before the sessions court.
In a 1991 interview Karate, now a leader in the banned Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), purportedly said to have killed dozens of Pandits, including Tickoo, during the insurgency in the Kashmir Valley that led to the community’s exodus. However Bita karate later said he did not kill anyone and stated that his statement had been made under “duress”.
Karate, who was arrested in 2019 by the National Investigation Agency in a militant funding case, had earlier been in jail for nearly 16 years between November 1990 and 2006 on various charges ranging from murders to other heinous acts militancy. He was granted bail by a TADA court in 2006 on ground of inordinate delay in framing of charges against him. After his release, Karate had parted ways with Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front led by Mohammad Yasin Malik and is now part of another faction of the JKLF and in jail in a separate case.