By NewsGram Staff-Writer

Court martial to six army personnel including a colonel-rank officer has been confirmed by army's northern command GOC in the 2012 Machil fake encounter case. All of them are sentenced to life imprisonment.

Spokesman of the army's Udhampur-based Northern Command Colonel S.D. Goswami said, "General Officer Commanding in Chief (GOC-in-C), Northern Command, Lieutenant General D.S. Hooda has confirmed the sentence of a Summary General Court Martial in the Machil encounter case. Colonel Dinesh Pathania, Captain Upendra, Havildar Devendra Kumar, Lance Naik Lakhmi, Lance Naik Arun Kumar and Rifleman Abbas Hussain have been sentenced to life imprisonment."

In April 2012, the army had claimed killing three guerrillas in Machil sector on the Line of Control in Kupwara district during an infiltration bid. There was a huge public outrage after photographs of those killed in the alleged encounter were released.

Relatives and neighbours of the slain persons alleged the army for framing and killing three civilians in a planned gunfight. They claimed that none of them were connected with militancy in any way.

Later the allegations were proved correct tin a police investigation. In a fake encounter, the three civilians were lured with promises of jobs and taken to the border where they were killed by the six army men for money and rewards.

The army later ordered a general court martial that found all the six army personnel guilty.

With Inputs from IANS