Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday met with the families of three civilians, who were found dead near the site of a suspected militant attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district, and assured them justice.

The three civilians were found dead on December 22, a day after four soldiers were killed in a suspected militant attack in Poonch.

The civilians have been identified as Safeer Hussain (43), Mohammad Showket (27) and Shabir Ahmad (32). They were part of a group of eight persons alleged picked up by the Army for questioning about the Poonch attack.

Two members each from the families of the three persons who died met Singh on Wednesday. The defence minister assured expeditious investigation into the matter.

Accompanied by Army chief General Manoj Pande and the Union territory’s Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, the defence minister also visited the Government Medical College to enquire about the health of four others who were allegedly tortured by security personnel.

“Whatever has happened...there will be justice,” Singh told media persons at the hospital, reported PTI.

The defence minister, who was visiting Jammu and Kashmir to review the security situation, described the recent incidents in the area as unfortunate, according to a press release by the Ministry of Defence.

Singh asked all security forces to undertake operations based on hard intelligence, under “established procedures aided by niche technology”.

“He urged all commanders to have zero tolerance for violations of the well-established SOPs [standard operating procedures],” the statement added.

A first information report in connection with the deaths of the three civilians and injuries to five others was filed on Sunday at the Surankote police station in Poonch under Sections 302 (murder) and 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code.

The case was registered after a 29-second video, purportedly showing soldiers stripping the three men and sprinkling red chilli powder on them, was shared on social media.

The Jammu and Kashmir government had acknowledged the deaths in a post on social media platform X, but did not provide an explanation for how they occurred.

The Army has ordered a Court of Inquiry to investigate the circumstances that led to the deaths of the civilians.

The attack on an Army convoy on December 21 resulted in the death of four soldiers identified as Naik Birender Singh, Naik Karan Kumar, Rifleman Gautam Kumar and Rifleman Chandan Kumar.