Major Aditya’s father moves SC for quashing of FIR in Shopian firing incident

The father of Major Aditya on Thursday moved the Supreme Court for the quashing of an FIR lodged by the Jammu & Kashmir police in the firing incident in Shopian.
In the plea, filed through advocate Aishwarya Bhati, Lieutenant Colonel Karamveer Singh says that “the manner in which the lodging of the FIR has been portrayed and projected by the political leadership and administrative higher-ups of the State, reflects the extremely hostile atmosphere in the State.”
He said that the FIR – which booked Major Aditya and the 10 Garhwal Rifles for murder and attempt to murder – will hurt the morale of Army personnel in the discharge of their duty.
The Major’s father, in his petition, said that the authorities were aware that the Major “was not there,” but “in an arbitrary exercise of power, named my son as an accused.”
“Army personnel present there were doing lawful military duty peacefully and who, by violent actions of the mob, were forced to take lawful actions for protection of government property without any excessive use of force,” the petition says.
The petition highlights that “violent mobs in Kashmir area have frequently obstructed bonafide government duties and even resorted to lynching and killing of government officials.”
The petitioner also sought directions to issue guidelines to protect the rights of soldiers and for adequate compensation so that no Army personnel is harassed by the initiation of criminal proceedings for bonafide actions in the exercise of their duties, reported PTI.
He also sought the registration of an FIR against those involved in the terrorist activities which had caused damage to property of the government.
The Army, too, contends that Major Aditya of the 10 Garhwal Rifles was leading the “administrative convoy” and was some distance away from the site where the firing occurred at Ganwapora in late January.
The Army has maintained that its soldiers had only opened “controlled fire in self-defence” after issuing several warnings to the violent 200-people-strong mob pelting stones on its convoy at Shopian in south Kashmir. The conflict left three civilians dead and seven soldiers injured.
Aside from the FIR, the state government headed by chief minister Mehbooba Mufti+ also instituted a magisterial inquiry to look into the matter and submit its report within 20 days.