Major Leetul Gogoi, who was praised and pilloried in equal measure for his act of tying a Kashmiri man to a jeep as a human shield against stone-pelting, today claimed his idea saved many lives.
Making an appearance on national TV, rare by a Major-rank officer, Gogoi, who was honoured by Army chief General Bipin Rawat recently with a 'Commendation Card', defended his action.
The government backed the officer, with Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu saying he saved lives under "exceptional circumstances".
Meanwhile, the man, whose video tied to an army jeep as a human shield against stone pelters had gone viral on social media, questioned if dragging a person for kilometres on end was an act of bravery for which the officer had been honoured.
Recalling the circumstances in which he had ordered Farooq Ahmed Dar to be tied to the bonnet of the vehicle, Gogoi said about 1200 stone-pelters had surrounded a small group of security personnel at a polling booth in Utligam village of Budgam district on April 9 and if he had ordered firing, there could have been at least 12 casualties.
Gogoi said he and five other army personnel had gone to that polling booth after a "distress call" about a small group of ITBP personnel and few members of the polling staff being surrounded by a big crowd of about 1200 stone-pelters.
In the mob, he said he saw a man who appeared to be the "ring leader" as he was "instigating" the stone-pelters on the day of bypoll to Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency on April 9.
He said the idea of tying the man struck him suddenly as a means to evacuate the polling staff and the paramilitary personnel, besides avoiding any casualties.
He said after Dar was tied to the jeep, stone-pelting stopped for some time, providing a window to them to leave the area safely.
The Jammu and Kashmir police said the investigation in the matter is still continuing as the FIR had not been quashed. An Army Court of Inquiry is also on.
"The investigation will be done and its result will be shared," IG (Kashmir) Munir Khan said.
However, Dar is not impressed. "It is a complete eyewash," he said about the inquiry. "They were never serious. I am a small person and why should anyone care," Dar, an embroidery artisan, said.
"It has been over a month since then and I am yet to hear from the local police. Even my statement has not been registered," Dar told PTI from his home in Chill in Budgam district.
"I wonder whether tying a person to a jeep are his efforts in counter-insurgency operations," Dar said, adding even his statement has not been recorded so far.
Meanwhile, Amnesty International, a global human rights group, denounced the Army's decision of honouring Gogoi.
Amnesty India's executive director Aakar Patel said rewarding an officer who was facing a probe for human rights violation suggests that the army was willing to "valorise an act of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment amounting to torture."
"This decision sends the disturbing message to security force personnel and people in Jammu and Kashmir that the human rights of Kashmiris can be casually ignored without fear of punishment. The disregard for the rights of Farooq Dar flies in the face of the commitments made by India recently at the UN Human Rights Council," Patel said in a statement in New Delhi.
Union minister Venkaiah Naidu, however, backed Gogoi, saying,"The action of the Major was taken in exceptional circumstances and the Army has appreciated him. He wanted to save the lives of the Indian citizens including officers who were on election duty."
"People know who are behind stone pelting in Kashmir. Who is funding them is all exposed by the media. For political reasons, the National Conference is trying to sympathise with such people by criticising the government and Army," Naidu told journalists in Jaipur.
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