SC asks states/UTs to decide on plea seeking to conduct yatras on poll awareness
The bench was told that such orders prohibit all kinds of assemblies, meetings and demonstrations during the duration of elections.
In what can be termed as a major U-turn, the government of Jammu and Kashmir on Monday apprised the Supreme Court that Major Aditya Kumar’s name has not been mentioned in the accused column of the FIR filed against Army personnel involved in the Shopian firing.
The top court was listening to the petition filed by Major Aditya’s father Lt Col (retd) Karamveer Singh who is seeking to quash the FIR against his son.
A bench comprising of three judges stayed the probe in connection with the Shopian firing and set the next date of hearing.
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“Major Aditya is an army officer and cannot be treated like ordinary criminals by the J&K police,” the SC said, according to a report in Times of India.
Last month, the apex court had restrained the Jammu and Kashmir Police from taking any “coercive steps” against Army officers including Major Aditya Kumar, who had been made an accused in the Shopian firing case in which three civilians were killed.
Singh has said his son, a Major in 10 Garhwal Rifles, was “wrongly and arbitrarily” named in the FIR as the incident relates to an Army convoy that was on bona fide military duty in an area under the AFSPA and was isolated by an “unruly and deranged” mob pelting stones, causing damage to military vehicles.
Three civilians were killed when Army personnel fired at a stone-pelting mob in Ganovpora village in Shopian, prompting the chief minister to order an inquiry into the incident.
The FIR was registered against personnel of 10 Garhwal Rifles, including Major Kumar, under Sections 302 (murder) and 307 (attempt to murder) of the Ranbir Penal Code.
(With agency inputs)
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