Srinagar
The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the police from filing a First Information Report against Army Major Aditya Kumar in connection with the Shopian firing incident, Indian Express reported.
Three civilians were killed in an Army firing in South Kashmir’s Shopian district in January.
The bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud issued notices to the Centre and the Jammu and Kashmir government, asking them to reply within two weeks. The Court also directed that no coercive action be taken against Kumar.
The stay order came after the father of the Army officer, Lieutenant Colonel Karamveer Singh, filed a petition before the apex court, claiming 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, mentioned the report.
The Army officer added that the plea was submitted “for protecting the morale of the Indian Army, who are facing all odds in the performance of their bonafide duties and laying their lives in the line of duty, to uphold the dignity of the Indian flag”, said the report.
The Jammu and Kashmir Police had filed a case against the Army unit and the Army in return reportedly filed a counter FIR and claimed that the protestors had provoked the army men of the 10th Garhwal Rifles unit “to the ultimate”.
Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti had earlier told the legislative assembly that her government would take the FIR to its logical conclusion.
