Statement of 40 witnesses recorded during 40-day-long probe
The magisterial probe into the Handwara incident, involving the alleged molestation of a minor by an Army man and subsequent killing of five civilians, is over as the inquiry officer has submitted his report to the government.
The PDP-BJP government had on April 18 appointed Additional Deputy Commissioner, Handwara, Peer Muzaffar Ahmad, as the inquiry officer to probe the alleged molestation incident and the subsequent firing which took place on April 12.
“Yes, I have completed the probe and submitted the report to the Deputy Commissioner, Kupwara, on May 31,” Peer Ahmad told Kashmir POST. He, however, refused to share the details of the probe or the recommendations, if any, made to the government.
Being a time-bound inquiry, the inquiry officer was earlier supposed to conclude the probe and submit his report to the state government within a month. However, the deadline was not met, and the inquiry officer was granted 10 days’ extension to complete the probe. The Assembly, which is in session, also witnessed noisy scenes over the delay in the submission of the report on Monday.
Sources said that during the inquiry, the magistrate concerned recorded statements of nearly 40 witnesses, including family members and relatives of two slain youths Nayeem and Iqbal. In his statement, Nayeem’s uncle, who is a key witness, is learnt to have stuck to his earlier statements before the media that the police opened fire in the Handwara chowk in which Nayeem was killed.
The sources revealed that the family members had initially wanted to submit statements in writing to the inquiry officer, which was not allowed. Later, they recorded their statements before the inquiry officer, but have not been provided copies of their statements before the inquiry officer.
