New Delhi: The Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) on Thursday suspended the life sentence of an Army captain convicted of orchestrating a "fake" encounter in the village of Amshipora in south Kashmir in July 2020, resulting in the deaths of three men.
The accused, Captain Bhoopendra Singh, was also granted conditional bail by the tribunal. The AFT bench directed to appear before its principal registrar on the first Monday of each month starting from January next year, reported news agency PTI.
The case relates to the July 18, 2020 encounter at Amshipora in which three men of Rajouri district -- Imtiyaz Ahmed, Abrar Ahmed and Mohammed Ibrar -- were killed and branded as terrorists.
However, as doubts were raised on social media over the killings, the Army promptly constituted a Court of Inquiry (COI) which found prima facie evidence that the troops had "exceeded" powers vested under the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, or AFSPA. The Court of Inquiry was followed by the summary of evidence, which was completed in the last week of December 2020.
Completing general court-martial proceedings in less than a year, an Army court in March this year recommended life imprisonment for Captain Singh, subject to confirmation by higher Army authorities.
According to the news agency, in a 25-page order on November 9, the two-member tribunal headed by chairperson Justice Rajendra Menon said, "...in our considered view, the evidence relied upon by the prosecution and accepted by the SGCM (Summary General Court Martial) in the present case is not convincing enough to hold the applicant guilty of the charges levelled against him. Prima facie, based on the material available on record we are convinced that likelihood of the applicant being acquitted after hearing of this appeal cannot be ruled out."
"The applicant has already been in custody for a period of about three years and therefore, it is a fit case where, prima facie, evidence available on record suggests that bail can be granted to the applicant by suspending the sentence," the tribunal stated.
Captain Singh's lawyer, Maj (Retd) Sudhanshu S Pandey, refused to disclose case details, saying it is still sub-judice.
He, however, confirmed the grant of bail and affirmed that the defense's position, previously disregarded by the Summary General Court Martial (SGCM), has now been vindicated.
"Such conviction of the young officer in this manner would have a very demoralising effect on other officers who are sacrificing their lives for the defence of the nation. It would have led to a bizarre situation where the young officers instead of showing willingness to put their lives at risk for word of command will insist on written orders when such operations are conducted. I express my gratitude for the armed forces tribunal to uphold the rule of law,” he said, as reported by PTI.