SC stays Shopian FIR against army

NEWDELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday stayed criminal proceedings against an army officer whose unit was charged for murder, attempt to murder and endangering life in an FIR over an alleged January 27 shooting by the army in Kashmir’s Shopian region that killed three civilians.

The court was hearing a plea by the father of Major Aditya Kumar, who had been named in the FIR filed by the J& K police as the officer leading the 10 Garhwal Rifles battalion when the incident occu-rred. Kumar’s father, Lieutenant Colonel Karamveer Singh, said in his plea that he wanted the FIR quashed on the grounds that his son was performing his duty and had been “wrongly and arbitrarily” named.

The Supreme Court restrained the J&K government from taking any coercive action against army officials allegedly involved in the incident, issuing notices to the central and state governments.

“It is directed that no coercive steps shall be taken on the basis of the FIR No. 26/2018 dated 27.1.2018 registered at P.S. Shopian under Sections 336, 307, 302 of Ranbir Penal Code against Major Aditya Kumar,” said the order by CJI Dipak Misra and justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud . Mirs are a nomadic tribe in Gujarat and are both Hindu and Muslim. Caught between pressures of religious hardliners, they make a case for a third religion. A battle over this tribe has been on in Gujarat for two decades now.