Indian army applauds human shield officer for defensive act
new delhi — The Indian Army has commended Major Nitin Leetul Gogoi of 53 Rashtriya Rifles for a rather defensive act. Major Gogoi had tied a young man in front of a jeep last month in Kashmir as a human shield to avoid attack from stone-pelters. In Kashmir a popular form of protest is to throw stones at soldiers.
At the time, this had created great controversy because the tactic does not come under any army rules. The Army had later said, it was better than firing at the protesters.
The army has awarded COAS (Chief of Army Staff) commendation to Major Gogoi “for sustained efforts in counter-insurgency operations.” The honours were presented by Army Chief General Bipin Rawat during his recent visit to Jammu and Kashmir.
The April 9 incident in Budgam, had exploded on the social media with liberals saying it was an unethical act of cowardice, and the nationalists trolling the liberals and inviting them to handle the protesters in Kashmir with love.
Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah had described the incident as shocking, and had tweeted the photograph of the incident, which happened during the Srinagar by-polls.
The government had backed the army, with its spokesperson saying in April that the officerin-charge “did a smart thing and defused a nasty situation”. Attorney general Mukul Rohtagi had said the major was summoned by officials to a poll booth since they were surrounded by hundreds of suspected stone-pelters, and that he was doing his job.
Ironically, the Jammu and Kashmir Police had registered an FIR against the security forces. Following the general criticism, on April 15, the army had constituted a court of inquiry into the episode.
During the hearing, the official position was reasserted: the man was tied to prevent stone-pelters from targeting soldiers during the record low turn-out Lok Sabha by-poll in Srinagar last month.
The incident has deepened the army-civilian divide and sparked violent protests in the Valley.