Srinagar: The Indian Army on Wednesday filed a counter FIR in Shopian firecase in which an Army Major has been booked, Zee News has reported.
Meanwhile, the death toll in the Army firing on a mob in Shopian districtof Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday rose to three after a critically injuredyouth succumbed to injuries.
Rayees Ahmad, who was among the nine persons injured in the Army firinglast week, succumbed to injuries at a hospital, police said, *PTI* reported.
With this, death toll in the firing incident at Ganovpora areaof Shopian has risen to three.
The Army had opened fire on a stone-pelting mob on January 27, 2018. It hasclaimed that it opened fire in self-defence after seven of its personnelwere injured.
The state government ordered a magisterial probe into the incident. Jammuand Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti had said on Monday that thepolice FIR against an Army unitlink>willbe taken to a “logical conclusion”, in a snub to ally BJP after it demandedthe withdrawal of the murder case.
Mufti had made the assertion while defending the police action, saying a”black sheep can be anywhere”, amid an uproar in the state Assembly overthe firing and a demand by BJP MLA RS Pathania for the immediate withdrawalof the FIR.
However, Pathania, had said that his party supports the magisterial probeto allow the law to take its own course.
The FIR was registered against the personnel of 10, Garhwal unit, of theArmy under sections 302 (murder) and 307 (attempt to murder) of the RanbirPenal Code. A Major, who led the Army personnel at the time of the incidenton Saturday, was also mentioned in the FIR.
J&K Police chief SP Vaid had said on Tuesday that registration of the FIRin the Shopian incident is just the beginning of the investigation and theArmy’s version would be taken into account as well.
A defence spokesman on Sunday had said in Srinagar that the troops openedfire when a mob tried to lynch a junior commissioned officer and snatch hisservice weapon.
“An Army administration convoy was passing through Ganovpora when it cameunder unprovoked and intense stone-pelting by a group of 100-120stone-pelters. Within no time, their number swelled to 200-250 persons,”the spokesperson had said.
“The crowd surrounded an isolated portion of the convoy consisting of fourvehicles,” he had added, noting that the stone- pelters had causedextensive damage to these vehicles and had tried to set them on fire.
On the other hand, defending the Army, Northern Army Commander LieutenantGeneral Devraj Anbu on Wednesday said that the Army had opened fire into acrowd in Shopian in the face of the “ultimate provocation” by astone-pelting crowd, as per *ANI*.
Calling the FIR against the Armylink>,which is registered by the J&K police as “unfortunate”, Lt Gen Anbu saidthat there should have been generic FIR in the matter.
“That is an unfortunate thing, in such a case a generic FIR should havebeen filed. I think they have prematurely put the name of an individual, Iam sure when they investigate truth will come out. Notwithstanding what thestate government did, we had our own inquiry and are clear that weresponded when we were provoked to the ultimate,” he added.