No action likely against Armymen in Shopian firing

New Delhi: No significant action is likely to be initiated against Army personnel of the Garhwal Regiment who were involved in a shooting incident last week in Shopian district of Jammu and Kashmir in which two youth were killed.

Top security sources claimed initial investigations had revealed that the security personnel resorted to firing only in self-defence as a large mob of stone-pelters had surrounded an Army convoy.

It has also been confirmed, sources added, that had the Army personnel not fired on the massive crowd who was resorting to heavy stone-pelting on the convoy in Shopian’s Ganowpora area, the mob would have lynched a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO), who had been surrounded by a group of violent local residents.

“What the Army personnel did was only in self-defence as they had come under heavy stone-pelting which was not expected in this particular locality. Further they had to save the life of the JCO who was unconscious after being hit by a stone and was trapped in the middle of a violent mob and would have been definitely killed so the action was only in self-defence,” a senior security official involved in the probe added.

The incident had also triggered strong reaction from J&K chief minister Mehbooba Mufti who lodged a strong protest with the Centre over the shooting in which two youth were killed while another was critically injured.

Following the incident, the J&K police had even lodged an FIR against personnel of the 10 Garhwal and even named a senior officer, Major Aditya. However, security sources claimed that Maj. Aditya was not an accused in the case and his name figures in the FIR primarily on the grounds that he was leading that particular convoy which came under attack from the local residents.

Security officials also clarified that as per provisions of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), which is imposed in most parts of J&K, it is mandatory for the local police to register an FIR whenever a civilian is killed in a security operation.

“Army personnel are working in very difficult situation in the terror-infested Valley and are fully aware of their responsibility. It is not case of Army personnel being trigger happy but then they have to protect and secure lives of their officers also, specially like this incident when the JCO fell unconscious. The mob was planning to set the Army convoy on fire which could have resulted in a bigger tragedy,’’ an officer added.

On its part the Army has already given a detailed written account of the incident to the local police which is also known as the ''diary.’’ Apart from the FIR, the State Government has also ordered a magisterial probe into the Shopian incident.