#HumanShield: FIR against army officer will not be quashed

“During the course of investigation it surfaced that Farooq Ahmed Dar was lifted and tied to army vehicle while motorcycle of Dar has been seized as a piece of evidence at village Utligam”.

“Major Gogoi has been awarded COAS Commendation Card for sustained efforts in Counter-insurgency operations”, the army sources have been quoted as saying.

The Chief Minister, the first political leader to call for an award for the Major, said it was good that the Army stood by the young officer despite criticism from certain quarters.

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq Chairman All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) said that the honour has not “come as a shock to Kashmiris”. The Valley is in the throes of a general unrest. We should be sensitive towards the people of Jammu and Kashmir. An FIR was registered by the Jammu and Kashmir police against the security forces.

The court of inquiry was convened by the Army on April 15, and it gave a clean chit to the Major. The video showed the army jeep moving ahead of an army patrol, while some villagers could be overheard that the youth had been picked up by the army.

Booker prize victor Arunadhati Roy has been a vocal critic of army’s presence in the Valley.

The crackdown has failed to halt the protests against Indian rule in Kashmir.

Cynics said Roy manages to trigger controversies around the time of her book launches.

She won the Man Booker Prize in 1997 for her novel “The God of Small Things”. I am not the only one who was denied justice.

The commendation card for Major Leetul Gogoi of 53 Rashtriya Rifles was given for “sustained efforts” in counter insurgency operations, Army officials said.

He added that he was dismayed to hear that the Major had been awarded a commendation certificate for bravery. A video of the incident later triggered widespread condemnation. The Army further accused the Pakistani army of aiding armed infiltrators along the line of control (LoC). When he went there, he somehow managed to rescue polling staff and was trying to escort them away to safety, but it was proving very hard in the face of over a 1,000 stone-pelters.