No coercive steps' against Army officer: Supreme Court

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday stayed an FIR lodged by the Jammu and Kashmir government against Army officer Adithya Kumar of 10 Garhwal Rifles in Shopian police station for quelling a violent mob, and restrained the State from taking coercive steps against the officer.

A three-judge bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud granted the stay on a petition filed by Lt. Col. Karamveer Singh, a decorated Army officer, to quash the FIR registered by the Jammu and Kashmir government against his son in the Army when he was performing his duties in defending the country. 

The petitioner said the incident reported in the FIR relates to an Army convoy on bonafide military duty in an area under the Armed Forces Special protection Act (AFSPA) which was isolated by an unruly and deranged mob who were pelting the said vehicles with stones causing damage to the military vehicles which are the property of the Government of India as well as placing the lives of the military personnel in grave peril.

He said the unruly mob was requested to disperse and not to obstruct military persons in performance of their duties and not to damage government property. When the situation had reached the extent beyond control, a warning was issued to the unlawful assembly to disperse in strict compliance with the established terms of engagement as are employed in such situations.