According to Army authorities, a captain who participated in the staged murders of three persons in Amshipora in the Shopian area of Jammu and Kashmir in 2020 has been recommended for life in prison.
However, they said, the sentence won’t be finalised until higher-ranking Army officials have approved it.
“The Indian Army stands firm on its principle of conducting ethical operations and has zero tolerance towards human rights violations and cases of misdemeanour,” an official said.
After a court of enquiry and subsequent summary of the evidence concluded that the soldiers under Captain Bhoopendra Singh’s command had exceeded their authority under the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, he was court-martialed.
The three guys from the Rajouri district of Jammu were slain and labelled terrorists on July 18, 2020 by soldiers under the officer’s command in the Shopian district. Several have referred to the shooting deaths of Imtiyaz Ahmed, Abrar Ahmed, and Mohammed Ibrar as cold-blooded murders.
A chargesheet was filed against three people, including Captain Bhoopendra Singh, by the Jammu and Kashmir police’s special investigation team for fabricating the encounter.
Mehbooba Mufti, president of the PDP, hailed the recommendation to give the captain a life sentence as a positive step towards establishing responsibility in such circumstances.
According to official statistics, between 2017 and July 2022, the government received 116 complaints concerning alleged human rights breaches by the Army and the Indian Air Force, of which 108 were directed at the Army.
To address allegations of human rights breaches, the Army established a human rights cell at its headquarters in 2020.
