SC stays FIR against Major
The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the FIR against Army major Aditya Kumar and other personnel in the killing of three civilians in Shopian district in Kashmir Valley. The civilians died when the Army opened fire at a stone-pelting mob, ostensibly in self-defence.
Major Aditya Kumar has been listed in the FIR as an "accused."
Accepting the plea of the major's father, Lt Colonel Karamveer Singh, a serving officer, the three-judge Bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud directed the J&K Police not to take any coercive steps on the basis of the FIR and issued a notice to the Centre and the J&K government. Both have been asked to reply in two weeks as to why the FIR was registered despite AFSPA being in operation.
Seeking absolute immunity for Army personnel in bona fide service of their country, the petition said the Army is one of the tools of the government for maintaining public order. "A legitimate method of removing any obstacle or impediment for completing the authorised task can be defined as a part of charter of duty," the petition said.
The Bench also sought assistance of Attorney General K K Venugopal in the matter.
The order came on a petition filed by the major's father, a Kargil War veteran, seeking to quash the FIR and issue guidelines to protect the dignity of soldiers acting in the line of duty.
The Court had agreed to hear the petition urgently on a plea filed by a young lawyer Aishwarya Bhati. She was helped in Monday's hearing by senior advcoate Mukul Rohatgi, a former attorney general, who said: "This is a very serious issue. There is an operation going on currently."
The major's father said in the petition that his son had been "wrongly and arbitrarily" named in the FIR as the incident relates to an Army convoy that was on bona fide
military duty in an area under AFSPA and was isolated by an "unruly and deranged" mob pelting stones, causing damage to military vehicles.
The petition said the FIR filed by the local police against the serving Army personnel had a "numbing effect" on the morale of soldiers operating against all odds in "inhospitable terrains" to "uphold the dignity of the Indian Flag."
It recounts the events on January 27 when a mob isolated and attacked an Army convoy. They pelted stones at the military vehicles and tried to lynch a Junior Commissioned Officer, after which warning shots were fired.
“The unlawful assembly refused to spare the life of the Junior Commissioned Officer and, therefore, fire was lawfully opened on the unlawful assembly with an aim to disperse the violent mob and protect government servants and property,” the petition submitted.
The petitioner said his son was booked despite not being present at the spot. He urged the court to order compensation for the soldiers involved and direct the registration of an FIR against the mob since the soldiers were made "targets of the unlawful assembly's rage and lack of basic human morality."
The petition described the conduct of the mob as akin to "terrorist activity." It said the manner in which the J&K political leadership and administrative higher-ups have projected the FIR against the Army personnel reflects the "extremely hostile atmosphere in the State" in which the Army has to function.
"The errant behaviour on the part of the people of the State of Jammu and Kashmir is directly proportional to the lawlessness and absolute disregard for the safety and protection of the Armed Forces functioning in the State, the petition contended.