Father, son get lifer in militancy case.

Excelsior Correspondent POONCH, Feb 1: Sessions Judge Poonch Kishore Kumar awarded life term to a man and his son, for hiding militant in his house who gunned down a civilian and a security personnel during searches in Mendhar area.The judge awarded life imprisonment to Mohd Rafiq (Govt teacher) and his son Rayees Hayat, residents of village Keneti Banola in tehsil Mendhar. The judge observed that the accused persons beyond any doubt had hidden the militant at their house and during searches huge quantity of arms and ammunition was recovered from the Almirah. It indicated that he used to help terrorists. The accused persons were convicted for the commission of offence under Section 302 RPC read with Sections 120-B and 307 RPC and sentenced to undergo life imprisonment and fine of ` 25,000 and 10 years rigorous imprisonment for the commission of offence under Section 307 RPC.

The court also observed that the accused Mohd Rafiq who was a teacher in Govt School Salwah, is considered to be the role model for the society and such type of activities against the sovereignty and security of the country is not expected from him. The court however, rejected the plea of the prosecution for the death sentence to the accused persons.

According to prosecution case, on the night of December 8-9, 2006, a joint search operation was launched by the Army Police and CRPF at Kaneti Banola after getting information that a district commander of LeT was hiding in the house of the teacher. The family members went underground while forces tried to break an almirah and the militant hiding inside started firing on the security men. The militant Abu Sohail was killed but in the firing by terrorist one civilian Mohd Sharief and Army personnel Varinder Singh were killed. A Naib Subedar was also seriously injured. The forces recovered one AK-47 rifle, Chinese pistol, communication equipment, batteries, chargers, ammunition and stamps of Zonal Education Officer Poonch. The accused were later arrested and after completion of investigations, a challan was produced in the court.