After hearing a petition regarding the reopening of the murder case against Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) terrorist Farooq Ahmed Dar alias "Bitta Karate", a Srinagar court on Friday listed the matter for the next hearing on May 4.
The Court heard the petition for the opening of a criminal trial against Bitta Karate in the murder of Kashmiri Pandit businessman Satish Tickoo in 1990.
"Bitta Karate", a former self-styled commander of the JKLF is presently lodged in Delhi's Tihar jail on charges of funneling funds from Pakistan into terror activities in Kashmir. He was arrested again in 2019 by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on charges of terror funding.
Tickoo family lawyer Advocate Utsav Bains said the other side argued that Supreme Court has dismissed a PIL by the "Roots in Kashmir" seeking orders for an investigation into cases of killings of Kashmiri Pandits in the valley.
Advocate Utsav Bains, of Tickoo's family, said here that they hope that they will get justice from the court. He said that the video of Karate confessing to killing Tickoo will be submitted in court in the course of arguments.
"We will do it in the due course of the arguments because in that video Bitta Karate admitted that he killed Tickoo because he was a member of the RSS. It is a submission of a cognizable offense," he said.
The other side argued that a PIL by the NGO Roots in Kashmir seeking orders for an investigation into cases of killings of Kashmiri Pandits in the Valley was dismissed by the Supreme Court and the application is not maintainable.
However, Bains argued that under criminal law, the family had a right to take the other side for a criminal trial.
"The family of Tickoo did not go to the SC. We have not even filed an affidavit in the SC in the Roots in Kashmir petition. So, my right to criminal trial does not get affected by that PIL and the dismissal order," he said.
Bitta Karate had confessed killing of Kashmiri Pandit
Terrorist Farooq Ahmed Dar alias Bitta Karate in a shocking video confession had admitted that the first Kashmiri Pandit he murdered was Satish Tickoo, one of the first victims of terrorism in the Kashmir Valley. Bitta Karate is accused of killing many other Kashmiri Pandits during the 1990s.
Satish Tickoo's family moves court seeking to reopen trial against Bitta Karate
The family of slain Kashmiri Pandit Satish Tickoo moved a Srinagar court in March 2022 seeking to reopen the trial against dreaded terrorist Farooq Ahmed Dar also known as Bitta Karate, 31 years after the killing of Kashmiri Pandits in the Kashmir Valley.
Bitta Karate is believed to be one of the key men behind the execution of Kashmiri Pandits. He currently heads the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), the organization behind the targeted killings in the early 1990s.
Karate had admitted to killing more than 20 Kashmiri Pandits in an interview with a news channel years ago. Karate was dubbed the 'Butcher of Pandits' after the 1990 killing. Karate, in the video, had also admitted that his first victim was Satish Tickoo.
