The Supreme Court on Monday declined to entertain a petition seeking investigation into the alleged mass murder of Kashmiri Pandits in the Valley in 1989-90 , during the heights of militancy.
“How can there be a probe into a matter that happened 27 years ago?” a Bench led by Chief Justice of India J.S. Khehar asked the counsel representing an organisation called the Roots In Kashmir’. The court in its order explained that the instances of alleged crime referred to are of 27 years ago and any evidence regarding them is unlikely to surface at this point of time.
The counsel argued that the events affected 40,000 families and 700 lost their lives. Mr. Khehar then asked why they had to wait for 27 years to seek justice. To this, the counsel replied that the community had banked on the “legitimate expectation” that successive governments would bring them justice. “But theirs was only lip service,” the counsel submitted.
