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2 civilians killed near J&K army camp, protest erupts
Rajouri district commissioner Vikas Kundal announced an ex gratia relief of ₹1 lakh each to the next of kin of the three men.
JAMMU: Two civilians were shot dead and a third was injured on Friday morning near the gate of an army facility in Jammu’s Rajouri town, triggering protests by hundreds of local residents who sought an impartial probe into the incident.
The Indian Army’s Nagrota-based 16 Corps issued a tweet shortly after the incident and attributed the gunfire to “unidentified terrorists”, but, in a handwritten assurance with the signatures of the district administration, police and a senior army official, the corps assured compensation for those killed and that “wrongful tweets” would be deleted.
Rajouri district commissioner Vikas Kundal, one of the people who signed the assurance that was seen by HT, announced an ex-gratia relief of ₹1 lakh each to the next of kin of the three men.
A senior district police officer said local residents alleged that a sentry opened fire in a case of mistaken identity. The deceased men were identified as Surinder Kumar, around 40 years-old, and Kamal Kishore, 39, both residents of Falyana in Rajouri town. The injured man was identified as 39-year-old Anil Kumar of Ranikhet, Uttarakhand, whose condition was described as stable.
The DIG of Rajouri-Poonch range, Dr Haseeb Mughal said: “following the incident, police immediately reached the spot and shifted the injured to hospital for treatment. We have registered an FIR and a thorough probe will be conducted. There was an agitation and some violence by the people but officials from administration, police and army pacified them. I assure that a probe will be conducted in a fair manner. Forensic and ballistic aspects will also be looked into.”
An army officer, who asked not to be named, said the killed men worked as labourers inside the army camp.
The police have registered an open FIR including sections of murder.
A resident, who asked not to be named, said the deceased men cleaned utensils and toilets at the camp for over decade while the third person worked at a shop being run by an ex-serviceman inside the facility.
“The firing took at the Alpha gate of the army near TCP on the Rajouri-Poonch highway,” he added.
The three men were approaching the Alpha gate at about 6:15am when the shots were fired. Soon after the incident, angry people blocked the Jammu-Poonch highway and some threw stones at the military facility.
Following the strong protests – the residents had placed the victims’ bodies on the road -- Rajouri district commissioner Kundal, deputy general officer commanding (GOC) of the 25th infantry division, S Malik, and Rajouri senior superintendent of police, Chowdhary Mohammad Aslam, gave a written assurance to the protestors including legal heirs of the slain men.
The handwritten document, carrying the signatures and stamps of Kundal, deputy GOC Malik and Aslam read: “the army shall ensure free education to the children of slain men and injured man up to graduation, permanent jobs to the widows of the slain men in military hospital, immediate compensation of ₹1 lakh to the next of kin of dead and injured, FIR shall be lodged and investigation done, withdrawing army’s wrong tweet, magisterial probe and adequate compensation to the families after probe”.
The army has not given details of the incident.
Earlier, the White Knight Corps said in a tweet: “In an early morning firing incident by unidentified terrorists at Rajouri near Military Hospital, there has been fatal casualty of two individuals. The Police, security forces and civil administration officials are on the site.”
