A view of the Supreme Court of India, in New Delhi. | Photo Credit: Ranvijay
The petition contains specific instances when heavy stone-pelting by mobs was orchestrated to distract Armed Forces personnel during counter-insurgency operations in areas like Shopian and Pulwama.
The law seems to protect pelters of stones in Jammu and Kashmir while working against armed forces personnel who brave the stones, two young daughters of Army officers told the Supreme Court on Monday.
Kajal Mishra (20) and Preeti Kedar Gokhale (19), said it looked like the law had thrown its protective cloak around the pelters of stones, while the Army personnel who retaliated or acted in self-defence against the mobs were booked for crimes. In short, the petitioners told the court that armed forces personnel were meant to simply shrug off the rocks thrown at them by unruly mobs and move on.
“FIRs are filed against soldiers if they take action in retaliation or in self-defence against the perpetrators of pelting of stones... no similar action is taken against the perpetrators of violence against the armed forces personnel,” the petitioners pointed out.
A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi admitted the petition, represented by senior advocate Meenakshi Arora and Neela Gokhale, and sought a response from the Union of India, the Ministry of Defence, the National Human Rights Commission and the Jammu and Kashmir government.
The young women drew the court’s attention to a declaration made by the former Chief Minister of J&K, on February 2 last year, about the withdrawal of 9,760 FIRs filed against pelters of stones on the ground that they were “first-time offenders”. The petition said the announcement by the former Chief Minister was “shocking” as the law did not even allow the State to withdraw an FIR once it was registered without due process of law.
The petition contains specific instances when heavy pelting of stones by mobs were orchestrated to distract armed forces personnel during counter-insurgency operations in areas like Shopian and Pulwama. The petition highlighted that the Army personnel were deprived of any avenue or mechanism to prosecute a person who had committed an offence against him or obstructed him from doing his duty.
“There is no mechanism put in place, either by the Centre or the State, to deal with such brazen acts of human rights violation of the forces. Armed forces personnel are deployed in these disturbed areas to discharge their duties. It is necessary to put in place a mechanism to deal with and enforce the security of the forces,” the petition said. The absence of such a mechanism was itself a violation of their fundamental rights, it noted.
The petition said 759 incidents of pelting of stones were reported in Jammu and Kashmir in 2018 as per a report given by Union Minister of State for Home Hansraj Ahir in the Rajya Sabha on December 12 last.
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