Shopian firing: Army didn't cooperate with probe against Major Aditya Kumar, says Jammu and Kashmir Police report

A status report prepared by the Jammu and Kashmir Police has said that the army did not cooperate with the investigation against Major Aditya Kumar, named in an FIR after the killing of three civilians in Shopian on 27 January. “Neither the army nor the public has cooperated with our investigation from the beginning. That is a fact,” The Indian Express quoted Jammu and Kashmir DGP SP Vaid as saying. The report also said that the local population also did not cooperate with the police probe. [caption id=“attachment_4378247” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. PTI[/caption] “..the injured/dead bodies had been taken away by the relatives and locals, thus no medico legal formalities could be completed by the police. However, police sought medical records from hospitals where the injured/deceased were taken by the locals,” The Indian Express further quoted the police report as saying. On Monday, the Supreme Court restrained the Jammu and Kashmir Police from carrying out any investigation in pursuance to an FIR filed against Kumar. Directing the listing of the matter for “final disposal” on 24 April, a bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice DY Chandrachud said: “There shall be no investigation on the basis of the FIR lodged till then.” Lieutenant-Colonel Karamveer Singh — a serving officer and father of Major Aditya Kumar — is seeking the quashing of the FIR against his son. At the outset of the hearing, Attorney General KK Venugopal said the mere filing of the complaint against an Army personnel serving in the disturbed area was barred under Section 7 of Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) without the prior sanction of the central government. He cited top court judgements of 2006 and 2014 in support of his contention that without the Centre’s sanction even a complaint against a serving army officer operating in disturbed area was prohibited under the law. This was opposed by senior counsel Shekhar Naphade, appearing for Jammu and Kashmir, saying that the registration of FIR and even filing of chargesheet did not amount to taking cognisance of the offence and thus no prior permission of the Centre was required. He too cited the top court judgements to back his contention. “Is there a licence to kill under Section 4 and Section 7 of the (Armed Forces Disturbed Area) Act,” Naphade said, with the Attorney General taking exception to the words “licence to kill” saying many soldiers are being killed. As Naphade reiterated the stand of the Jammu and Kashmir government, Chief Justice Misra said: “Major Aditya Kumar is an Army officer and not an ordinary criminal.” Naphade said Major Kumar has not even been named as an accused in the FIR. With inputs from IANS