STRUCTURES OF VIOLENCE

308 | Structures of Violence
this, both alleged perpetrators brought Reyaz
Ahmad Wani to his house in a half dead condition.
Reyaz Ahmad Wani was taken to the village
hospital, and then on the way to a Srinagar
hospital he died. Reyaz Ahmad Wani was not
connected in any way to militancy. On crossexamination,
the witness stated that they were not
allowed to go to the place where Reyaz Ahmad
Wani was being beaten, but the father of the victim
had gone there and he informed them on what was
happening. The victim was brought back to his
house at about 3:00 pm.
- PW 5, stated that on 13 July 1994 the army
had cordoned the village and the people were
asked to assemble at a place near the Ziyarat
Sherif [shrine] of the village. An identication
parade was conducted and the victim was picked
up by Mushtaq Ahmad Ganaie, who was
accompanying the army, and was taken for
interrogation by both the alleged perpetrators.
Reyaz Ahmad Wani was tied to a tree and they
heard cries of the victim. The alleged perpetrators
were beating Reyaz Ahmad Wani with sticks.
When the mother and father of Reyaz Ahmad
Wani sought to intervene, his father was also
beaten up. Subsequently, PW 2 and 3 were asked
to take Reyaz Ahmad Wani away. Reyaz Ahmad
Wani was taken to the village hospital, and then on
the way to a Srinagar hospital he died. On crossexamination,
the witness maintains that he saw
the victim being beaten.
- PW 6, the brother of Reyaz Ahmad Wani
states that he saw the “dead body” of his brother
kept in the compound of his house. No damage to
the witness testimony appears to have been done
on cross-examination. The witness also stated
that the family had received the ex-gratia
compensation.
- PW 8, is the witness on the seizure memo and
it was in his presence that the dead body of Reyaz
Ahmad Wani was taken by the police. The witness
stated that there were injuries on the body of
Reyaz Ahmad Wani, except his head.
- PW 10, the doctor who examined Reyaz
Ahmad Wani at the village, conrms that the victim
had suffered injuries that could be caused by
sticks.
- PW 11 and 12 conducted the post-mortem on
the dead body of Reyaz Ahmad Wani. They noted
injuries on the body and noted that Reyaz Ahmad
Wani had died due to “sustained torture”. PW 12
stated that all injuries were inicted within twenty
four hour duration.
- PW 13, the person investigating the crime
provided details of the investigation.
- PW 14 and 15 are also of the police but their
testimonies need not be recounted here.
- Defence witness [DW 1], Assistant
Commissioner in the ofce of the Development
Commissioner at the relevant date, stated that
during the processing of the ex-gratia government
relief case, the parents and other witnesses had
stated that Reyaz Ahmad Wani had died due to
gun re. These statements were subsequently
tampered and the reference to gun re was
substituted with a reference to Reyaz Ahmad Wani
having died due to being beaten.
- DW 2 stated that on 9 September 1994 the
father and elder brother of Mushtaq Ahmad
Ganaie [the army informer] were kidnapped by
unidentied persons and later the dead body of the
father was found. The brother of Mushtaq Ahmad
Ganaie was killed on 9 September 1994. Mushtaq
Ahmad Ganaie remained in his house for four
days of mourning.
- DW 3, Mushtaq Ahmad Ganaie, stated that on
9 September 1994 at about 10:30 pm his father
and elder brother were kidnapped. The body of his
father was found the next day and his brother's
body was found on 14 September 1994. From 9
September 1994 to 16 September 1994, Mushtaq
Ahmad Ganaie remained at his house at village
Chandgam, Pulwama. In cross-examination, he
denied working with the army or with Captain
Sharma.
The court considered the above evidence and the
arguments of the counsel of the accused who
appeared to limit himself to the issue of intent based on
the reasoning that as the head of the victim was not
targeted there was no intent to kill him. But,
considering the other injuries, the court found that
intent to kill was established. Further, the alibi plea was
considered by the court to be an afterthought and was
not accepted.
Before analysing the judgment of the court, a few
points need to be made:
- It is unclear who PW 4, 7 and 9 were and what
they testied. The judgment does not refer to
them.
- PW 5 puts the date of the incident in July 1994,
but this may well be a typographical error not
attributable to the witness.
- There is a question to be considered on which
witnesses actually saw the alleged perpetrators
beat the victim. PW 2 testied that only the father
went and saw what happened with the victim. But,
this contradicts with PW 1 and PW 5 who also
claimed to have seen the beating of the victim.
- It is unclear how the witnesses were able to
identify the alleged perpetrators. No details are
provided on the basis of their knowledge of the
identity of the persons involved.
- None of the witnesses refer to the unit of the
army involved in the operation, whereas the
nd
prosecution case referred to the 22 Battalion
Grenadiers.
- The issue of the change of statements during
the ex-gratia government relief process, and the
issue of whether the witnesses had spoken about
the victim dying of gun re, does not appear to
have been adequately dealt with by the court.
But, notwithstanding the above points, the guilt of both