The Government of Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday ordered a major reshuffle in the prosecution department, appointing 104 officers of the Jammu and Kashmir Prosecution Service as Public Prosecutors (PPs), Additional Public Prosecutors (APPs) and Assistant Public Prosecutors (Asst PPs) in courts across the Union Territory.
The notification, issued by the Home Department from the Civil Secretariat in Srinagar, was made under Sections 18 and 19 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 with the objective of strengthening prosecution in criminal cases at the district, sessions and special court levels.
Issued by order of the Lieutenant Governor, the notification was signed by Chandraker Bharti, Principal Secretary to the Government, Home Department.
According to the order, Surinder Kumar has been appointed Public Prosecutor in Principal Sessions Court Kathua and also assigned to Samba, while Manzar Khayam will serve as Additional Public Prosecutor in Jammu and Public Prosecutor in Udhampur. Rajesh Sharma and Hemanshu Prakash have been posted as Public Prosecutors in Kathua and Jammu respectively.
Shafat Ahmad Bhat and Najeeb Hussain Nahvi have been appointed as Additional Public Prosecutors in NIA Courts at Ganderbal and Pulwama respectively and will also function as Public Prosecutors in the respective districts.
Ajaz Ahmad Najar has been shifted from Kulgam to serve as Public Prosecutor in Srinagar, while Mohd Amir Almansoor has been posted in Rajouri. Syed Sareer Ahmad has been appointed Additional Public Prosecutor in Srinagar and Public Prosecutor in Bandipora, and Temoor Jahangir Khan will serve in Kishtwar and Bhadrwah.
Bandhana Jamwal has been posted as Additional Public Prosecutor in NDPS Court Jammu and also in the Sessions Court Jammu. Ab Rashid Mugloo has been assigned to Shopian and Baramulla, while Suhaib Ashraf Allaqaband has been posted in Budgam.
Zia-ur-Rahman has been appointed Additional Public Prosecutor in Kulgam and Srinagar, while Riaz Ahmad Dar will serve in Baramulla. Hilal Ahmad Bhat has been posted in Kupwara and Anuj Gupta in Fast Track (POCSO) Court Jammu.
Ajay Dogra has been appointed Public Prosecutor in Pulwama and Additional Public Prosecutor in Fast Track Court Jammu. Jaswant Raj will serve in Udhampur, while Rafi Ahmad Mir has been posted in NIA Court Sopore and as Public Prosecutor in Kulgam.
Khursheed Ahmad Setari and Fayaz Ahmad Shalbaf have been assigned to NDPS Courts in Baramulla and Pulwama respectively, with the latter also holding charge in Sopore. Pankaj Sethi and Farooq Ahmad Shagoo have been posted in Poonch and Shopian respectively.
Kuldeep Kumar Bhat has been appointed Additional Public Prosecutor in Poonch and Samba, while Gulzar Ahmad Bhat and Zain-ul-Abdin Munshi have been posted in Anantnag and Pulwama respectively. Ms Shafqat Murtaza has been assigned to NDPS Court Srinagar and UAPA Court Ganderbal.
Anshuman Dubey, Rakesh Sambyal and Prithipal Singh have been posted as Public Prosecutors in Kishtwar, Reasi and Ramban respectively, while Ajaz Ahmad Parveez and Iftikhar-ul-Hassan Malik have been appointed in UAPA and NIA courts in Sopore and Bandipora. Qazi Abid Ali has been posted in NDPS Court Srinagar.
The order further appoints several Senior Prosecuting Officers, including Basher Ahmad Bhat, Jaipal Singh, Arvind Rathod, Riyaz Ahmad, Mansoor Ahmad Khan, Raj Kumar-I, Sunil Kumar, Sarfraz Ahmad, Raj Kumar-II, Mohammad Syeed Qureshi, Sheikh Bilal Mohi-ud-din, Syed Anwar Ahmad, Abdul Aziz Zaindari, Muzamil Rashid, Waseem Ahmad Shah and Arif Majeed Ramshoo, among others.
Additional appointments include Vishwajeet Singh Thakur, Abdul Rashid Dar, Najam ul Nisa, Pawanpreet Singh, Ankush Gupta, Mirza Zahid Khalil, Mir Junaid Ahmad, Nadish Yousuf, Gurpreet Kour, Jaasir Ashraf Mir, Ms Ritu, Mohammad Yaseen Najar, Javid Manzoor Sheikh, Rohit Kumar Tidyal, Bilal Ahmad Lone, Vinay Kumar, Khalid Mushtaq, Sheikh Naseer Ahmad, Ishtiyaq Rashid Wani, Syed Nadeem Hussain and Mohammad Iqbal Rather.
Among Prosecuting Officers, those appointed include Wasiq Umer, Amit Abrol, Kanav Kumar, Tarush Kumar Oberoi, Arti Devi, Prabjoot Kour, Sabeel Kawoosa, Akshita Bharti, Nitesh Sharma, John Mohammad Wani, Asifa Rashid Mir, Romisa Raool, Abhinandan Salgotra, Deepak Sharma, Avinash Mahajan, Mohammad Salauddin, Shikha Jamwal, Vishal Khajuria, Kalyan Singh, Uttam Vikas, Gitanjali Bhagat, Sourab Sarangal, Mumtaz Ahmad, Shahbaz Raza, Amit Birdi, Mohd Shazad, Sheetal Razdan, Bandhana Sharma, Sudershan Sharma, Pallavi Bakshi, Muzamil Jan, Yawar Firdous and Rahul Sharma.
The appointments cover courts across districts, including Jammu, Anantnag, Baramulla, Kupwara, Pulwama, Rajouri and Poonch, in addition to Srinagar, with a focus on strengthening prosecution in NDPS, NIA, UAPA, Fast Track and POCSO courts.
Officials said the large-scale reshuffle is aimed at improving case management, expediting trials and enhancing conviction rates, particularly in sensitive and high-priority criminal cases across the Union Territory.
