After three decades, trial begins in the killing of Kashmiri Pandit

Farooq Ahmad Dar, who was the commander of the JKLF in 1989, was arrested in 1990 and charged with the killings of Kashmiri Pandits.

The trial into the murder of Kashmiri Pandit Satish Tickoo in 1990 began in a sessions court here on Wednesday, after his family sought a status report on the first information reports (FIRs) against Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) leader Farooq Ahmad Dar, Tickoo’s lawyer Utsav Bains said.

Tickoo, a businessman, was shot dead outside his residence in Karfalli locality of Srinagar on February 2, 1990. (Representational)

The trial has raised hopes for the family as the court sought to know from the government on the progress of the case in the past 32 years.

Tickoo, a businessman, was shot dead outside his residence in Karfalli locality of Srinagar on February 2, 1990. Dar, who was the commander of the JKLF in 1989, was arrested in 1990 and charged with the killings of Kashmiri Pandits.

“It was the first physical hearing of the murder trial of Mr Satish Tickoo who was murdered by Dar who confessed to the crime in an interview a news channel,” Bains said.

“The court is actively hearing our side. It sought to know from the state what had happened in the case all this while… whether a charge sheet has been filed or not… There is a ray of hope for families… they should get justice,” he added.

In an interview in the 1990s, Dar had accepted “killing many Hindus and Muslims”, including Tickoo, during the period of militancy in Jammu & Kashmir.

Dar is currently in jail after he was arrested by the National Investigation Agency in 2017 in a terror funding case.

The court fixed April 16 as the next date of hearing.