The Supreme Court of India on Thursday dismissed the curative petition filed by NGO Roots in Kashmir seeking an SIT probe into 1989-90 Kashmiri Pandits genocide. The bench while dismissing the curative petition said that in our opinion, no case can be made out within parameters indicated.
The dismissal of the Curative Petition spelled a big setback for Kashmir Pandit community.
Curative was last legal remedy that the people had , to put forward their request in trhe mass exodus that took lives and livelihood of many people.
Roots in Kashmir, an organisation of Kashmiri Pandits, had moved the Supreme Courtseeking investigation, either by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or the National Investigation Agency (NIA), into the 1889-1990 massacre of Pandits in Kashmir, leading to their exodus from the erstwhile state.
The curative petition challenged the April 27, 2017 order of the Apex Court, which had dismissed a plea for probe into the violence, stating that since 27 years had passed, no fruitful purpose would emerge, as the evidence was unlikely to be available at this late juncture.
The organisation alleged that since the Jammu and Kashmir Police has failed to investigate crimes against terrorists and make any progress in the hundreds of FIRs before it, the same should be handed over to either CBI or NIA.
The curative petition by Roots for Kashmir sought transfer of investigation of all FIR’s/cases of murder and other allied crimes against Kashmiri Pandits in years 1989-90, 1997 and 1998, to an independent investigating agency like CBI or NIA or any other agency.
It further sought transfer of all FIRs and cases pertaining to murders of Kashmiri Pandits, from the state of Jammu and Kashmir to some other state (preferably the state of NCT of Delhi), so that the witnesses, who were reluctant to approach police or Courts in view of their safety concerns, can freely and fearlessly come and depose before the Investigating agencies and Courts.
The plea also sought investigation and prosecution of terrorists like Yasin Malik and Farooq Ahmed Daar alias Bitta Karate, Javed Nalka and others, for murder of Kashmiri Pandits during the years 1989-90, 1997 and 1998, which were lying un-investigated by the Jammu and Kashmir Police, even after expiry of 26 years.
Stating that the completion of trial and prosecution of Yasin Malik for gruesome murder of four officers of Indian Air Force on the morning of January 25, 1990, was currently pending before the CBI Court, it sought probe into this case also by CBI or NIA.
The petition further demanded appointment of an independent committee or Commission to investigate into the mass murders and genocide of Kashmiri Pandits during 1989-90 and subsequent years, and also to investigate the reasons for non-prosecution of FIRs of murders of Kashmiri Pandits and Court monitored-investigation.