The Jammu-Kashmir Police had lodged an FIR under Section 302 (murder charge) against the Army personnel and his unit for opening fire on a group of stone-pelting mob in Ganovpora village in Shopian. (File)
The Supreme Court on Monday will hear a petition filed by Army officer Lieutenant Colonel Karamveer Singh, challenging an FIR registered by Jammu and Kashmir Police against his son Major Aditya Kumar of 10 Garhwal Rifles, in connection with the death of three civilians in alleged Army firing in Shopian in January.
While hearing the case last month, the apex court had ordered that no coercive action should be initiated against Kumar and had sought a response from the Centre and the Jammu and Kashmir government within two weeks in this regard.
The court’s order came after Singh, in his plea to the apex court, claimed that the firing was undertaken to control “a savage and violent mob engaged in terrorist activity” and that the FIR violated the fundamental rights of his son. The Army officer added that the petition was submitted “for protecting the morale of the soldiers of Indian Army, who are facing all odds in performance of their bonafide duties and laying their lives in the line of duty, to uphold the dignity of the Indian flag”.
Advocate Aishwarya Bhati, who filed the petition on behalf of Lieutenant Colonel Karamveer Singh, father of the Army personnel, told mediapersons, “On our request, the court has ordered that no coercive action should be taken against Major Aditya Kumar in pursuance of the FIR lodged against him. It is a positive and an encouraging day for us.”
The Jammu-Kashmir Police had lodged an FIR under Section 302 (murder charge) against the Army personnel and his unit for opening fire on a group of stone-pelting mob in Ganovpora village in Shopian. While two persons were killed on the spot, a third succumbed to his injuries later. The incident prompted Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti to order a probe into the killings.
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