Srinagar/June, 21: A human rights activist M M Shuja Wednesday this week approached National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) with a petition for impartial probe into the killing of editor-in-chief, daily Rising Kashmir, Syed Shujaat Bukhari along with his two personal security officers. He has also sought rehabilitation of the victim families.
The activist M M Shuja, who is the chairperson of Centre for Peace and Protection of Human Rights, has approached the NHRC , as the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) is currently observing summer vacations with “no vacation bench available right now.”
The petition pleads that there “are some important factors and circumstances which require an immediate and thorough probe to bring the culprit to justice.”
The petition also raises questions regarding the security arrangements put in place in and around the Press Enclave where Bukhari along with his PSOs was killed, as also about the CCTV footage “released” by the police?
If it is a fact, as per the media reports and observation made by some RAW chief that Bukhari had met the chief minister a day before his death and requested for upgrading his security, why the same was not acceded to and upgraded immediately, it says.
The petition states that despite lapse of about a week “none of the actual culprits has been nabbed so far”, except the arrest of one person alleged to have picked up the pistol from the scene of crime
The part of the CCTV footage released by the police also appears to be “doubtful”.
“No such bridge, as shown in the footage, has been identified by the police, and the actual timing of CCTV footage has not been disclosed,” the petition states.
On the fateful day of 14 July in between 7 – 7:15 pm, the editor-in-chief of Rising Kashmir, while he was coming out of his office in Press Enclave Srinagar along with his two security guards was hit by some unknown gunmen resulting in the death of all the three.