Trial resumes against jailed Bitta Karate in Srinagar’s Sessions Court

SRINAGAR — The trial against Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) leader Farooq Ahmed Dar started at Srinagar’s Sessions Court.

Farooq Ahmed Dar alias Bitta Karate is accused of killing over a dozen Kashmiri Pandits during the hey-days of militancy in Kashmir valley.

Bitta Karate spent 16 years in jail and was released on bail in 2006. The order for his release came from the Supreme Court of India. The court released Karate on bail under the Public Safety Act (PSA).

He was arrested in 2019 for his alleged role in militant funding and has been in jail ever since.

The family of a slain Pandit, Satish Tickoo, moved to the Srinagar Sessions Court through Advocate Utsav Bains. The Sessions Court attended the case, seeking all the details pertaining to the case from the government.

The Counsel for the Tickoo’s family, as per the news agency Kashmir News Trust, said that a physical hearing took place in Srinagar Sessions Court and the court sought details from the government.

He said the Supreme Court while releasing the Bitta Karate had maintained that the prosecution failed to show an interest in the case and didn’t come up with the proper pieces of evidence.

Pertinently, when in custody, Bitta Karate in an interaction with a journalist had admitted that he killed some Kashmiri Pandits.