Army soldiers isolated to ensure fair probe

Checking discontent: Personnel moved to different location as inquiry begins

The Army has isolated ten of its men, including a junior commissioned officer (JCO), to ensure a “free and fair probe” into the killing of the two Kashmir youths by its personnel in the Budgam district of Jammu and Kashmir.

The men were taken to a different location to facilitate investigations and a court of inquiry, headed by the deputy commander of a Rashtriya Rifle sector (generally a Colonel-rank officer), has been ordered to examine if the soldiers manning the mobile vehicle check post violated any “standard operating procedure” or the “rules of the engagement”.

The probe would also review if it was a “legal operation” and whether the situation could have been handled with “minimum use of force”, sources said.

On Monday evening, two youths — Faisal Ahmad Bhat and Mehrajuddin Dar — were killed and two others were injured when soldiers of 53 Rashtriya Rifles fired at their car in Chattergam.

The two other injured boys were taken to Base Hospital where they are undergoing treatment.

Officials in the Army headquarters here claimed that the white Maruti car, driven by the boys, did not stop at two checkpoints and skirted the stone barrier at a third, when the soldiers fired at the car.

A day before the incident, the Army received intelligence inputs from the Jammu and Kashmir Police on two stolen cars – a Honda City and a white Maruti – that could be used by militants.

As a routine precautionary measure, a 10-member Army team comprising one junior commissioned officer and 9 men set up three mobile vehicle checkpoints over a two-km stretch of road between Nowgam and Pulwama.

When a white Maruti approached the first two barriers, the soldiers signalled it to stop. But the car did not halt at the first two checks, the Army has claimed.

At the third checkpoint, where a stone barricade was put up, the car skirted the barricade and came hurtling towards the JCO and his men. “The JCO claimed he heard firing before opening the fire. We are investigating the incident. But you must remember that it was evening and the response time was few seconds only,” said a source in the Army.