In the Amshipora encounter which was alleged to be fake, the Armed Forces Tribunal has suspended the sentence awarded to convicted officer Captain Bhoopendra Singh and granted him bail, ANI reported.
The Amshipora encounter took place on July 18, 2020, in the Shopian area of Jammu Kashmir in which three ‘terrorists’ were killed by a Rashtriya Rifles unit but later they were claimed to be labourers from Rajouri. The Army disciplinary proceedings had found the officer Captain Bhoopendera Singh guilty and he was awarded life imprisonment.
The officer had approached the Principal Bench of the Armed Forces Tribunal in New Delhi through his lawyer S S Pandey against the conviction claiming “illegality in proceedings” and other discrepancies in the disciplinary proceedings against him.
“We allow the application for suspension of sentence for life imprisonment and direct that the applicant shall be released on bail,” the Principal Bench headed by Justice Rajendra Menon including administrative member Lt Gen CP Mohanty said.
The court said that we have only stayed the sentence of conviction to the extent of undergoing the jail sentence, all other punishments like cashiering, etc. shall continue to remain in operation during the pendency of this appeal. However, the court rejected the plea for a stay of conviction and allowed the Army to promulgate the sentence awarded to the officer in the Summary General Court Martial.