Cong hails reward to army officer

 The Congress on Tuesday was apprehensive of criticising the army chief’s decision to reward the officer who had tied a Kashmiri man to the bonnet of a jeep as a shield against stone pelters.

“There is no question of doubting the decision of the army chief,” Congress spokesman Randeep Singh Surjewala said.

Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh was the first to laud Major Nitin Leetul Gogoi, who used a Kashmiri man as a human shield to ensure safe passage for a five-vehicle convoy led by him in April.

Singh said the officer had exemplified a high level of presence of mind and courage – two important attributes of a good army officer.

“You cannot let the army deal with such stone-pelting mobs with one hand tied behind their backs,” the Punjab chief minister, who was an officer in the army, said.

Senior JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav said the army should have waited for the outcome of the Court of Inquiry looking into the circumstances that prompted the army officer to take the step.

“Even before the probe in the case is complete, such an act by the government will further aggravate the Kashmir situation,” Yadav said.