Tufail Matto killing: Court pulls up police again

Srinagar: A local court Thursday pulled up police for slow probe into the killing of 17-year-old Tufail Ahmad Matto, whose death on June 11 last triggered summer unrest in Kashmir Valley last year. “After going through the case diary file, no concrete results have been achieved so far. SIT shall expedite the investigation and come with some results,” Chief Judicial Magistrate Srinagar, Yaspal Bourney, said.     Earlier, the Chief Prosecuting officer contradicted Chief Minister Omar Abdullah when he informed the local court that no arrests have been made in connection with the killing of the boy.  In an interview recently, the chief minister had said: “Investigations are on (in connection with the killing of Tufail Mattoo). Some people have been arrested. If you want to prove that we are doing nothing, it is not a fact.”  On March 16 last, a woman witness identified a police constable who she said had fired teargas shell at the teenager.However, the police later informed the court that paramilitary CRPF and not Police was involved in the killing. On March 08 last, the court had directed police to complete identification parade of all the 75 suspects in the case within 30-days.Mattoo’s death triggered off cycle of violence in the valley and at least 112 persons were killed in subsequent five months. According to the family, Tufail was returning home from tuitions on June 11 last when police teargas shell hit him near Gani Memorial College in old city, killing him on the spot.The police even refused to file an FIR initially and it was on the directions of the court that a case was registered.