SC stays FIR against Army major
The Supreme Court on Monday stayed a murder FIR lodged by the Jammu and Kashmir police against Army personnel, including Major Aditya Kumar of 10 Garhwal Rifles, over last month’s shooting incident in Shopian district in which three civilians were killed. The court also restrained the state from taking coercive steps against the booked Army personnel.
A bench, headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, granted the stay on a petition filed by Major Aditya’s father, Lt. Col. Karamveer Singh, to quash the FIR registered by the Jammu and Kashmir government against his son while he was performing his duties in defending the country.
Major Aditya’s father also referred to last year’s incident of mob lynching of state police’s deputy superintendent Mohd Ayub Pandith in Srinagar to point to the nature of uncontrolled mobs in these areas.
Three civilians were killed when Army personnel fired at a stone- pelting mob in Ganovpora village of Shopian. Following a probe by the state government, an FIR was registered against the personnel of 10 Garhwal Rifles, including Major Kumar, under sections 302 ( murder) and 307 ( attempt to murder) of the Ranbir Penal Code.
The bench, which also
included and Justices A. M. Khanwilkar and D. Y. Chandrachud, heard petitioner’s counsel Aishwarya Bhati and issued notice to the Centre and the state seeking their replies. The court also sought the assistance of attorney- general K. K. Venugopal in the matter. The petitioner said that the incident reported in the FIR relates to an Army convoy, in an area under the Armed Forces Special Protection Act ( AFSPA) that which gives special protection to the forces against prosecution, which was isolated by an unruly mob pelting stones to damage military vehicles, which are government property, and threatening to lynch a JCO. The petitioner said that the police authorities in an arbitrary exercise of power named his son as an accused knowing fully well that he was not present at the place of the incident and that the Army personnel who opened fire were doing lawful military duty.