Rifleman Aurangzeb, who hails from Jammu and Kashmir and was brutally killed by militants in Pulwama when he was on his way home for Eid, is also in the list of Shaurya Chakra awardees.
Major Aditya Kumar, who was embroiled in a controversy after his unit fired on a stone-pelting mob leading to the death of three persons in Kashmir, is among 20 personnel of the Indian Army to be conferred the Shaurya Chakra on the occasion of Independence Day.
Rifleman Aurangzeb, who hails from Jammu and Kashmir and was brutally killed by militants in Pulwama when he was on his way home for Eid, is also in the list of Shaurya Chakra awardees.
Official sources told The Indian Express that Major Aditya of 10 Garhwal Rifles was awarded the country’s third highest peace-time gallantry award for an operation on November 29 last year, which led to the death of two militants, including Abu Baker.
Major Aditya later got embroiled in a controversy on January 27 when a convoy led by him opened fire on a group of stone-pelters in Shopian. Jammu and Kashmir Police had then registered a case under sections 302 (murder) and 307 (attempt to murder) of the Ranbir Penal Code against personnel of the Army unit, including Major Aditya.
His father, Lt Colonel Karamveer Singh, a serving Army officer, moved the Supreme Court in February, seeking quashing of the FIR. During the hearing, the central government had clarified that the state government cannot lodge an FIR against serving Army personnel in J&K when the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act had been promulgated in the state.
Subsequently, during a hearing on his father’s petition in March, the state government told the apex court that Major Aditya had not been named as an accused. But in July, the J&K government told the Supreme Court that a probe into the Shopian case was justified.
Rifleman Aurangzeb, who belonged to the Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry, was abducted by militants in Pulwama district on June 14 while he was heading to his home at Salani village in Poonch to celebrate Eid. Hours later, his bullet-riddled body was found at Gussu village, about 10 km from Kalampora, in Pulwama district. The 24-year-old soldier had joined the Army in 2012 and belonged to a family of soldiers.