Army orders probe into incident of tying up of youth with jeep

The Army has ordered a court of inquiry into the incident in which a Kashmiri youth was tied in front of a jeep on April 9 to push back stone-pelters.

The court of inquiry (CoI) is to submit its report by May 15 on the events and circumstances that made an Army officer to tie a local tailor in front of the jeep in Budgam district. officials said.

The move follows after sharp reactions in Kashmir and elsewhere following the surfacing of the video showing the incident.

It  came a  day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi reviewed the situation in Kashmir with senior ministers and  National Security Advisor  Ajit Doval and Army Chief Bipin Rawat.

An upset Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti apparently sought a detailed report from the state police following which the Army too began an internal investigation into the incident. Later, Home Minister Rajnath Singh also said  the Centre will look into it.

General Rawat had then met Jammu and Kashmir Governor NN Vohra in Srinagar and returned to meet Doval.

The Jammu and Kashmir police also filed a First Information Report  against the Army after the video showing the incident went viral.  

Investigations showed the incident apparently took place in Beerwah area of Budgam district where mobs disrupted polling during the bypoll to Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency. A poll boycott call by separatists saw mobs attack polling booths and burning electronic voting machines or EVMs in many places.

An Army unit was called to prevent more than 500-strong stone-pelters from attacking a convoy which had gone to rescue election officials and ITBP officials.

The video showed the young man sitting tied with a rope to the front of the jeep as it drove into a village.

The man was identified as Farooq Dar who said he picke up when was out to cast his vote and later visit his sister's house, where a bereavement had taken place. He said a 53 Rashtriya Rifles contingent picked him up as it wanted to enter Beerwah village with the polling staff.

Initially, the government and Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi had tried to defend the move.  Rohatgi held that "Everyday people are dying. It's a surcharged atmosphere. The Army is dealing with terrorists not with protestors, so they will have to be dealt with...everyone should look at the Army with pride, they are doing a great job."

Kashmir has been tense since April 9  when the by-poll took place. On the polling day, eight youth were shot dead by the security forces in central Kashmir’s Budgam and Ganderbal districts. Another youth was killed by BSF men at Batmaloo in uptown here last Saturday.