Disciplinary action against Major Gogoi: Justice finally done, says ‘human shield’ Dar

SRINAGAR: Farooq Ahmad Dar, the Kashmiri artisan who was used as a human shield by army major Nitin Leetul Gogoi, on Monday said that it was the God’s way of delivering justice after hearing that the army officer was indicted by an army Court of Inquiry (CoI) and may face general court-martial for “fraternising” with a local woman.

“He deserved this. He did injustice to me. And God humiliated him,” Dar said.

Gogoi was detained by police at a hotel in Srinagar along with a young woman in May this year following which army chief General Bipin Rawat had promised “exemplary punishment” if he was found guilty of violating rules.

A CoI into the matter found Gogoi responsible for meeting a local woman in a counter-insurgency zone and being away from his location without permission.

The major had waded into controversy earlier as well when he tied Dar, a 28-year-old shawl weaver of Chill village in Budgam district, to the bonnet of a jeep as a “human shield” last year, claiming that he saved his convoy and election staff from stone-pelting youth.

He drove Dar around for five hours across 17 villages on April 9, 2017, the day Srinagar had gone to parliamentary bypolls.

Dar, who had voted on the day despite a large-scale violence, had responded by saying that Gogoi was “lying to save himself”.

The Valley reacted in anger against the human rights violation while the opinion outside Kashmir was sharply divided.

Gogoi was awarded a commendation certificate by Bipin Rawat for “sustained efforts in counter-insurgency operations” even before the findings of CoI in human shield case were made public.

Dar alleged he got no justice from the state and central governments.

“I was not involved in anything, despite that I was made to suffer. The way he ruined my life, government did nothing to compensate that,” he said.