Srinagar, Feb 6: The Jammu and Kashmir High Court Wednesday directed the state and central government to file a compliance report to the directions passed by it on October 8 last year in a Public Interest Litigation seeking judicial probe into the killings during the 2010 unrest in Kashmir.     
Granting last opportunity to the respondents, a division bench of the High Court comprising justice JP Singh and Justice Muzaffar Hussain Attar directed them to file the response within four weeks. 
The court granted four weeks to the government to file the response after State Home department submitted an affidavit seeking extension of time to file response in terms of order dated October 8, 2012 regarding continuation/constitution of Commission of Inquiry.
The Home department has filed the affidavit after receipt of the status report from Director General of Police detailing out the status of the criminal investigation conducted in respect of 110 deaths during 2010 unrest.
As per the status report, the total FIRs registered are 79, out of which chargesheets have been filed in 43 cases while 18 cases have been described as “closed untraced”. According to the report, in five cases the investigations have been  completed and chargesheets would be filed within shortest possible time. In rest of the cases investigation is pending, the report says.
The affidavit filed by the Home department on January 29, 2013 also indicates that the file regarding the continuation/ constitution of Commission of Inquiry has  been  processed and all the required material including status report of DGP has been placed before the Chief Minister for his decision on January 24, 2013.
The High Court on October 8 last year asked the state government to file an affidavit indicating the rationale of the Commission of Inquiry (CoI)—probing the deaths during the 2010 uprising—behind bringing only 17 cases under the ambit of the probe.  A division bench had asked the respondents to “justify the rationale,” saying over 100 deaths had occurred during the uprising.
The Court had directed the Central and State Government to explain whether the policy decision taken on September 19, 2010 regarding ex-gratia relief to the legal heirs of the victims was confined only to the death of civilians that occurred till October 10, 2010 or for a later period as well.
The supplementary affidavit filed by the state government had indicated that as per the decision of Cabinet Committee on Security an ex-gratia relief of Rs 5 lakh to a relative of deceased was to be granted. However the date of commencement for granting the relief was mentioned as June 11, 2010 and there was no closing date for it.
The Court had directed the governments to place on record copies of policy decision taken by the Cabinet Committee on Security on September 25, 2010 and subsequent decision taken on September 28, 2010. It had also asked the state government to constitute committee for identifying the rightful claimants.
The court had said there was nothing on record to indicate as to how many persons were actually paid ex-gratia relief of Rs one lakh under the state policy and Rs five lakh under the central policy.
The Public Interest Litigation filed by JKLF Chairman Muhammad Yaseen Malik who was later replaced by Advocate Imtiyaz Sofi on the submission of the counsel of the petitioners   is seeking judicial probe into the deaths during 2010 mass uprising in Kashmir.
Senior Additional Advocate General, AM Magray represented the state and S A Makroo defended the Union of India in the case.

Lastupdate on : Wed, 6 Feb 2013 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 6 Feb 2013 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 7 Feb 2013 00:00:00 IST