Jammu and Kashmir: Army files counter FIR on pelters
The FIR has been lodged at the Shopian police station.
Srinagar: The Army on Wednesday filed a counter First Information Report (FIR) against unknown stone-pelters who it said forced its men to open fire resulting in the death of three youths and injuries to some others on January 27.
The Army has not identified the people who, it alleged, attacked its convoy with stones in Ganowpora village of Jammu and Kashmir’s southern Shopian district that afternoon. It said that it was the job of the police to ascertain who the assailants were and book them under the relevant provision of the law. The FIR has been lodged at the Shopian police station.
This comes days after the J&K police filed an FIR against Major Aditya of the Army’s 10 Garhwal unit and his associates, invoking Section 302 (murder), Section 307 (attempt to murder) and Section 336 (endangering life) of the Ranbir Penal Code relating to the firing incident.
Army says opened fire in defence
The Army had termed it as a pre-mature act on part of the police and the BJP had, in the state Assembly, been critical of naming the Army Major in the FIR.
Javed Ahmed Bhat, 20, and Suhail Javed Lone, 24, were killed and few other civilians injured when the Army opened fire on a stone-pelting mob in Ganowpora village on last Saturday.
Rayees Ahmed Gania, 19, who was critically injured in the shooting died in a Srinagar hospital early Wednesday, triggering fresh protests in Shopian and neighbouring Pulwama district.
The firing incident evoked anger throughout the Kashmir Valley where a shutdown was observed on Sunday to mourn and protest the killings. Shopian and Pulwama remained shut on the seventh consecutive day on Wednesday.
The Army claimed that its men had opened fire “in self-defence” and only after a 250-strong mob tried to lynch a Junior Commissioned Office and snatch his service weapon. It also said that seven soldiers were injured and 11 vehicles damages in the mob attack. The state government has ordered a magisterial inquiry into the firing incident.
The Army had said that a few vehicles got separated and were trapped by protesters. It also said that the stone-pelting was “unprovoked and intense”, causing extensive damage to four Army vehicles and a JCO accompanying the convoy was hit on the head and fell unconscious. The mob tried to lynch him and snatch his weapon, it said.