Top court to hear plea filed by Major’s father

NEWDELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear a petition filed by the father of an army officer booked as accused in recent Shopian firing incident.

The petition will be heard on Monday.

The father of army major Aditya Kumar on Thursday moved the SC, demanding that an FIR registered against his son by the Jammu and Kashmir Police in the shooting death of three civilians be quashed.

His son was just doing his duty and was “wrongly and arbitrarily” named, lieutenant colonel Karamveer Singh said in his petition, adding the officer’s intention was to save army personnel and property.

Major Kumar, who is with 10 Garhwal Rifles, was named in the FIR filed against his unit after the army firing on protesters left three people dead in Shopian on January 27.

The soldiers opened fire “only to impair and provide a safe escape from a savage and violent mob engaged in terrorist activity”, the plea said. The FIR was arbitrary as the incident was related to an army convoy on military duty in an area under the AFSPA, Singh said.

NHRC TAKES UP PLEA BY OFFICER’S CHILDREN

The NHRC has taken cognisance of a complaint filed by three children of Army officers alleging violation of human rights of the force’s personnel in recent incidents of stone-pelting in J&K.

In a statement on Friday, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) said the complainants have also sought its “intervention for an appropriate enquiry in the recent incident of stone-pelting and assault by an unruly and disruptive mob on Army personnel in Shopian district on January 27”.

FATHER OF MAJOR ADITYA KUMAR MOVED SC DEMANDING AN FIR REGISTERED AGAINST HIS SON BY J&K POLICE BE QUASHED