'Severe reprimand' for Major Leetul Gogoi

NEW DELHI: The Indian Army has awarded a "severe reprimand" and six months' loss of seniority for pension to Major Leetul Gogoi, who was briefly detained by Jammu & Kashmir Police in May last year after an altercation when he tried to enter a hotel in Srinagar with a young Kashmiri woman.
Major Gogoi, who was at the centre of the "human shield" controversy in Budgam district in April 2017 but got a clean chit and even an award for it, has also been posted out of Kashmir where he was serving with a Rashtriya Rifles unit.
The court martial against Major Gogoi held him guilty for "fraternising with a woman source against existing orders" and "leaving his unit post in an operational area without permission from his superiors" in May last year.
"The discipline and vigilance ban on Major Gogoi has now been lifted. He is being routinely posted out of Kashmir after completing his almost three-year tenure there," said an officer.
Major Gogoi, posted with the 53 Rashtriya Rifles (Punjab Regiment) at Beerwa in Budgam district of Kashmir since March 2016, had first faced flak after he controversially decided to truss up a civilian named Farooq Ahmad Dar on his jeep's bonnet as a "human shield" to rescue over a dozen security and election personnel from a stone-pelting mob in Budgam district on April 9, 2017.
Brushing aside criticism that the officer had violated human rights, General Bipin Rawat had awarded Major Gogoi with the Chief of Army Staff commendation card for his "sustained efforts in counter-insurgency operations as well as his presence of mind and initiative to prevent bloodshed in a volatile situation".
But on May 23 last year, Major Gogoi once again triggered a controversy after the police detained him, along with the Kashmiri woman and a third person, following an altercation over them getting a room in the Grand Mamta Hotel in Srinagar.
General Bipin Rawat had then said that exemplary punishment would be given to Major Leetul Gogoi if he was found guilty of any offence. "If any officer of the Indian Army is found guilty of any offence, we take strictest possible action… If Major Gogoi has done something wrong, I assure you he will be awarded punishment at the earliest," the general had said.