The Supreme Court stayed the FIR against Major Aditya who was booked by the Jammu and Kashmir Police in the firing incident in Shopian in which three civilian protesters had died.
Directing that no coercive action be taken against the Major, the apex court has issued a notice to the centre and the J&K government and sought a reply within two weeks.
"We have been asked to serve a copy of the petition to office of Attorney General of India&Court has requested AGI to clarify the stand of Centre in two weeks. J&K govt also has to clarify its stand in two weeks," news agency ANI quoted Aishwarya Bhati, Advocate, as saying.
Advertisement
On January 27, two civilians were killed and nine others injured reportedly after the army opened fire on a stone-pelting mob in Ganowpora village. The death toll in the alleged Army firing increased to three after a critically injured man succumbed to his injuries.
Following the outrage over the killings, the state police had earlier registered a case under sections 302 (murder) and 307 (attempt to murder) of the Ranbir Penal Code against the personnel of 10, Garhwal unit, of the Army.
Father of the Major had moved the top court seeking quashing of the FIR. Lieutenant Colonel Karamveer Singh had said his son, a Major in the 10 Garhwal Rifles, has been "wrongly and arbitrarily" named in the FIR as the incident relates to an Army convoy on bonafide military duty in an area under the AFSPA, which was isolated by an "unruly and deranged" mob pelting stones causing damage to military vehicles.
Advertisement
The plea, filed through advocate Aishwarya Bhati, said the intention of his son was to save Army personnel and property and the fire was inflicted "only to impair and provide a safe escape from a savage and violent mob engaged in terrorist activity".
The unruly mob was requested to disperse and not obstruct military in performance of their duties and not to damage government property but when the situation reached beyond control, a warning was issued to disperse, the plea said.
As the unruly behaviour of the "unlawful assembly" reached peak and when they got hold of a Junior Commissioned Officer and were in the process of lynching him to death, warning shots were fired fire to disperse the violent mob and protect public property, it submitted.
Singh had also referred to last year's incident of a mob lynching of DSP Mohd Ayub Pandith to apprise the top court about the situation in the state and the condition in which Army officials were working to control violent mobs in Kashmir.
The petitioner has sought directions to issue guidelines to protect rights of soldiers and adequate compensation so that no Army personnel is harassed by initiation of criminal proceedings for bonafide actions in exercise of their duties.
It has also sought registration of FIR against persons involved in the terrorist activities which had caused damage to property of the government.
Advertisement
The FIR was registered against the personnel of 10, Garhwal unit of the Army including Major Kumar under sections 302 (murder) and 307 (attempt to murder) of the Ranbir Penal Code.
(Inputs from PTI)
