Major 'fraternised' Human-shield officer indicted

Muzaffar Raina and Imran Ahmed Siddiqui, TT,  Aug 28, 2018, Srinagar/New Delhi: Major Leetul Gogoi, whose use of a human shield in Kashmir fetched him an award from the army chief, has been indicted by a court of inquiry for indiscipline in a scandal involving a Kashmiri girl. He is likely to face a court martial.

Gogoi had booked a room at a Srinagar hotel in May this year and arrived there with territorial army man Sameer Mala and a teenaged Kashmiri girl. Gogoi and Mala allegedly scuffled with hotel staff when they, seeing the girl, refused to let the major use the room.

Police, called by the hotel, had registered an FIR and recorded the couple's statements before handing Gogoi over to his unit. An embarrassed army brass had ordered an internal inquiry.

"Orders have been issued to initiate disciplinary action against Gogoi," an official at army headquarters said on Monday. "The court (of inquiry) has held him accountable for fraternising with a local (against service rules) and for being away from his place of duty while in an operational area. He is likely to face a court martial."

Army sources said the next step was the recording of the summary of evidence, where Gogoi would have a chance to cite evidence in his defence. "If he fails to do so, a court martial will follow and he can even be dismissed from service," a source said.

During a parliamentary by-election in Srinagar in April 2017, Gogoi had strapped Budgam resident Farooq Ahmad Dar, 28, to the bonnet of his jeep as a shield against stone-throwers and driven from village to village.

While the act triggered global outrage, army chief Bipin Rawat called it "innovative" and awarded Gogoi a commendation for saving lives. General Rawat has promised "exemplary punishment" if Gogoi is found guilty in the hotel case.

The girl's family, living in a tin shed since the 2014 floods, told reporters in Budgam it was "payback time" for Gogoi. "We have been living a life of humiliation.... I can't look my neighbours in the eye," the girl's father said. Gogoi had come to know the girl through Mala, who had befriended her and the family by giving her a job with a self-help group.

"Justice has finally been done," PTI quoted Dar, an embroidery artisan who says the human-shield incident left him traumatised, depressed and unable to work. "God has his ways of doing justice."

But a retired army officer said justice would have been done if Gogoi were punished - rather than honoured - for abusing Dar's human rights.

Using human shields is "contrary to army rules and regulations in a democratic country, and a wrong message was sent by awarding him a commendation", he said.