Breaking: Supreme Court Dismisses Plea Seeking SIT Probe Into Genocide Of Kashmiri Pandits With Liberty To Approach Government

The Supreme Court has dismissed a plea seeking SIT probe into the genocide of Kashmiri Pandits and Sikhs in the Valley, with liberty to approach the concerned authorities with the demand.

The Bench comprising of Justice B. R. Gavai and Justice C. T. Ravikumar said that the issue is in the domain of the government. Please approach the government, the Bench said. 

There was an exodus of more than 1 lakh persons which was never noticed by the state government, the Counsel for the Petitioner submitted.  He said that NGOs and private organisations have the record of the exodus, but not the state government.

The Court then asked the Counsel if the Petitioner had approached the Government first. When the Counsel replied in the negative, the Court dismissed the plea with liberty to approach the authorities concerned.

The PIL was filed by NGO 'We the Citizens', seeking a probe by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) into the genocide of Kashmiri Pandits and Sikhs in Kashmir in 1990.

The PIL filed by Advocate Barun Kumar Sinha also prayed for the rehabilitation of Pandits and Sikhs who migrated out of Kashmir due to the violence and identification of those who aided and abetted the targetted killing of the Hindus and Sikhs between 1989 and 2003.

In 2019, the Supreme Court had refused to entertain a similar plea seeking prosecution of various persons, including separatist leader Yasin Malik for offences including the murder of over 700 Kashmiri Pandits in the Valley in 1989-90.

"You sat over it for the last 27 years. Now tell us from where the evidence will come," the Bench of the then Chief Justice J. S. Khehar and Justice D. Y. Chandrachud had told the Petitioner, 'Roots of Kashmir'.