The Supreme Court on Monday questioned the J&K government on how it could treat Army officers and ordinary criminals alike. This comes in line to put on hold the actions against Major Aditya Kumar. Major Aditya is named in an FIR lodged in the death of two stone-pelters in Shopian on January 27.
The bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra held the J&K government unjustified in the criminal proceedings against any Army personnel for action in the discharge of their duties or in self-defence.
On February 23, the bench had directed that no coercive action, like arrest or detention, shall be taken till the case was pending in the SC. The remark from the CJI comes on a day when the J&K government told SC that Kumar’s name was not mentioned in the FIR; taking a big U-turn. The bench took notice of his name mentioned in the narrative of the FIR and said that he could be roped in any time.
The Mufti government complained accused the Army of being unresponsive to its letters. She asked,
Are they above the law? And does the army have a licence to kill?
In reply Attorney general KK Venugopal said: Hundreds of army men are killed protecting us. The state shouldn’t be making such arguments. This is in strict violation of section 7 of the Armed Forces (J&K) Special Powers Act (AFSPA) of 1990.
The CJI said that Major Aditya is an Army officer and cannot be treated like ordinary criminals by the J&K police. The matter has been listed for its final disposal on April 24. Till then there shall be no investigation on the basis of FIR, said the CJI.
The petition was filed by Kumar’s father Lt Colonel Karamveer Singh seeking to quash the FIR. He is being represented by Advocate Aishwarya Bhati. She wanted the guidelines to protect soldiers’ rights and ensure no harassment of army personnel for the exercise of duties.
Another petition was filed by lawyer Vineet Dhanda and argued by advocate JP Dhanda. The petition asked for directing the Centre to constitute a panel for conducting an inquiry before any case is lodged against army personnel.
Two civilians were killed when the army fired at a stone-pelting mob in Ganovpora. This led the state to order a probe.