Kashmir human shield: Why does Indian Army have no respect for its court of inquiry?

On April 9, 2017, an incident occurred in central Kashmir which the people will never forget, and which the Army, not to speak of Indians generally, will never live down.

That day, a Kashmiri shawl weaver, Farooq Ahmed Dar, voted in the morning in the Srinagar bypoll around 8.30 am, his serial number on the voter roll was 612, at a polling booth (number 90) in his own village of Chil, 17km away from Ultigam.

A few hours after the polling, around 10.45 am, Dar was passing through Ultigam on his motorcycle, and there had been some stone-pelting. Earlier, some youth had been pelting the polling centre, and two youth received bullet injuries when the soldiers opened fire.

There Dar was held by Major Leetul Gogoi's soldiers who alleged he was a stone-pelter. A woman in the village told The Hindustan Times (May 26) that Dar had "showed his finger (which had the voting ink mark) to the Army personnel...but they were in no mood to listen".

At 11 am the Army jeep drove away. A placard was hung around Dar's neck saying he was a stone-pelter and he was tied to the bonnet of an Army jeep. By 11.30 am, the jeep reached Najan, via the villages of Ganipora, Hayatpora and Sonpa, where panic spread that a Kashmiri was tied to its bonnet.

At 1.30 pm, when the jeep reached Khospora, there were angry protests on the streets, and polling was discontinued. The Army refused to release Dar or even give him water. Finally, the jeep reached Hardpanzoo at 4 pm, where it drove into a Central Reserve Police Force camp.

Dar was then untied from the jeep, but still bound by ropes. When Dar's brother, along with the sarpanch and deputy-sarpanch of his Chil village reached the camp, they claimed that Dar was kept tied to a tree inside the CRPF camp. Finally, at about 7 pm, he was let off. His journey on the jeep had lasted 28 km.

The furore over this gross human rights violation will not blow over in a hurry. But there are other questions to be answered. Why was Major Gogoi allowed to go on TV and other media, when the commission of inquiry instituted into this incident was incomplete?

On what basis was he accusing Dar of being a "top stone-pelter" when there is clear evidence that he had voted, and then rode off on his motorcycle after voting, and then was "captured" by the Army? Top stone-pelters do not keep motorcycles around, as they pelt stones in the streets from shelters.

Above all, on what basis in military law did General Bipin Rawat give Major Gogoi a commendation, when the commission of inquiry was not over? So not only has the Major not been punished, but has actually been commended for a human rights violation, in all probability using the cover of the highly controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act, which the Supreme Court declared recently in the Manipur case could not grant immunity for human rights violations.

Above all, this will further alienate the Army from the Kashmiris? Apparently the NDA government is unyielding and brazen about the incident. Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi has stated that he would be willing to defend Major Gogoi.

Who has asked him to do so? Has the Modi government asked him? As Lt General HS Panag, himself a former Northern Area Commander (including Kashmir), pointed out, "Indian Army traditions, ethos, rules and regulations (are) swept away by the 'mood of the nation'!"

Also read: The grand delusion that is Kashmir