Will FIR against army major be quashed? SC to hear plea in Shopian firing case on Monday

The plea filed by Army Major Aditya Kumar’s father Lieutenant Colonel Karamveer Singh says that his son has been “wrongly and arbitrarily” named in the FIR.

The Supreme Court will on February 12 hear the plea filed by Army Major Aditya Kumar’s father Lieutenant Colonel Karamveer Singh seeking to quash of the FIR against his son. Major Aditya Kumar is one of the armymen who has been named in the FIR in connection with the firing in Shopian in Jammu and Kashmir.

Lieutenant Colonel Singh has said that his son, a Major in the 10 Garhwal Rifles, has been “wrongly and arbitrarily” named in the FIR. He added that the incident relates to an Army convoy on bonafide military duty in an area under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), which was isolated by an “unruly and deranged” mob which was pelting stones causing damage to military vehicles.

In the plea, it has been said that the intention of Major Aditya was to save Army personnel and property and the fire was inflicted “only to impair and provide a safe escape from a savage and violent mob engaged in terrorist activity”.

The plea also stated that the unruly mob was asked to disperse and not obstruct military but when the situation reached beyond control, they forces issued a warning to the mob to disperse.

The plea also says that when the unruly behaviour of the “unlawful assembly” got hold of a Junior Commissioned Officer and were in the process of lynching him to death, warning shots were fired to disperse them.

Three civilians were killed in firing by Army patrol party in Ganowpora village in Shopian on January 27, when a stone-pelting mob attacked an army convoy in the village. A 10-year-old boy died in a hospital on Thursday after he was injured in an explosion on January 25 when a debris clearing operation was in progress in the Shaigam village.