Human shield: FIR remains, probe against Army still on

Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, May 23

Amid outrage in Kashmir over the award to the Army Major who tied a youth to a jeep, a senior J&K Police officer today said the probe against the Army in the “human shield” case would continue and the FIR had not been quashed.

The assertion came a day after Major Leetul Gogoi of 53 Rashtriya Rifles (RR) Battalion was awarded with the Army Chief’s Commendation Card for his “sustained efforts in counter-insurgency operations.”

“The investigation in the case will carry on. The FIR has not been quashed (against the Army),” Inspector General of Police, Kashmir, Muneer Khan told reporters in north Kashmir’s Sopore sub-district. “Once an FIR is lodged, the investigation has to be completed. The FIR means the beginning of the investigation and the result of the investigation will be shared.”

The J&K Police had filed a case against the Army under Section 342 (wrongful confinement), 367 (kidnapping) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Ranbir Penal Code in Beerwah police station after a video surfaced on the social media showing a man roped to a jeep and used as a human shield against stone-throwers during polling in the Srinagar Lok Sabha byelection on April 9. The man in the video who was later identified as Farooq Ahmed Dar, a resident of Chill Brass, Budgam, had claimed that he was not a stone-thrower.

After public outrage, the Army ordered a court of inquiry, which is being carried out by a Colonel-rank officer and the probe is still in progress.Meanwhile, the honouring of Major Gogoi evoked condemnation in Kashmir. Dar, who was tied to the jeep, called it “injustice”. “Was I an animal that I was tied to a jeep and now the award given to him is total injustice,” Dar said over phone. “I have not been able to do my routine work after the incident.”