Macchil encounter: Justification for granting bail scary, says Omar

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah today termed as "unbelievably scary" the "justification" for the Armed Forces Tribunal decision's to grant bail to five army personnel convicted in the 2010 Macchil fake encounter case.

The Armed Forces Tribunal suspended the life sentence awarded to the Army personnel, including two officers, for allegedly staging the killing of three Kashmiri men in Macchil and granted them bail. "They wore Pathan suits, which are worn by terrorists...What an unbelievably scary justification. You can be killed for what you wear!" Abdullah wrote on micro-blogging site Twitter.

He was reacting to a media report that claimed the tribunal had suspended their sentence and granted them bail on the grounds that the victims of the encounter were wearing Pathan suits which are worn by terrorists.

The five army personnel had approached the tribunal challenging the punishment given to them following court martial proceedings in 2014.

The encounter of the three civilians on the intervening night of April 29 and 30 in 2010 in Macchil sector had triggered widespread outrage and violence in the state.