The Court of Inquiry announced by the Army into the allegation of tying a villager to a jeep and using him as human shield in central Kashmir last month has not been concluded, an Army spokesman said here.
The incident triggered massive public outrage in Kashmir and cutting across party and ideological lines, the incident evoked condemnation. However, the public opinion outside Kashmir, especially among the former Army officers remained divided. While some former Army officers condoned the ‘human shield’ incident as a preventive measure to safeguard human lives, the others described it as a blot on the image of Indian Army.
The incident occurred during the by-poll of Srinagar-Budgam Parliamentary Constituency, which was marred by widespread anti-poll protests and subsequent use of disproportionate force that resulted in the death of nine persons and injuries to dozens others.
In Beerwah pocket of Budgam district, the Army tied a youngster Farooq Ahmad Dar with the front of an olive green vehicle with ropes and paraded through a cluster of villages. The Army in two vehicles in the convoy announced that this was the fate of stone-pelters. Incide-
ntally, Dar, a shawl-weaver had cast his vote before he was taken as human shield.
Former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who represents Beerwah Constituency in State Assembly, was among the first to upload a video clip of Dar’s parade on twitter.
“The Court of Inquiry concerned with the incident wherein a civilian was tied to an Army Jeep is still incomplete,” Col Rajesh Kalia, spokesman of the Ministry of Defence in Srinagar said. The clarification came in response to media reports that an officer named in the incident Major Nitin Gogoi has been exonerated by the CoI.
“Reports in some sections of the media about the Army major being given a clean chit are speculative,” Kalia said.