Major in Kashmir human shield row says he did it to save local people

An army major facing criticism for using a Kashmiri man as a human shield defended the act on Tuesday, saying the act saved the lives of 12 people from a mob allegedly armed with stones and petrol bombs.

The first public comments by major Leetul Gogoi since the incident on April 9 came a day after he was awarded by the army chief for "sustained efforts" in counter-insurgency operations.

Gogoi was accused of rights abuse for tying the Kashmiri man to the bonnet of an army jeep and parading him through villages on the day by-polls were held for the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat.

An amateur mobile video of the incident surfaced a few days later, fanning public anger and deepening the army-civilian divide in the militancy-hit valley. The government, however, backed the officer while the army commended him for thinking "out of the box".

Speaking to a select group of journalists at an army camp in Beerwah, the army officer from Assam said tying the man to the jeep gave him a



"fraction of moment to get out of the place and save 12 (lives)".

HT was not invited to the media briefing but has a video recording of the interaction.

Explaining the circumstances leading to the incident, Gogoi said he led a team of soldiers after receiving a "distress call" from a polling station in Gutligam at around 10.30 am.

"When we reached the area, we saw a large crowd, including women and children...they were throwing stones, some people were even throwing boulders at us from their roof tops," the Rashtriya Rifles officer said.

Gogoi said he saw a man about 30 feet from his vehicle and asked soldiers men to "catch him".

The officer said the man - who was later tried to the jeep - tried to flee but was caught.

The man - later identified as Farooq Ahmad Dar -- was the "instigator and could have been a ring leader" of the stone-pelters, Gogoi said. The officer, however, did not say if he saw Dar pelting stones.