‘No reward policy for killing terrorists’

Reacting to a report in HT on June 8, 2010, on how unscrupulous armymen kill innocents in fake encounters in J&K to win cash awards and promotions, the army on Thursday claimed it had no such policy and that the story was baseless.

Reacting to a report in HT on June 8, 2010, on how unscrupulous armymen kill innocents in fake encounters in J&K to win cash awards and promotions, the army on Thursday claimed it had no such policy and that the story was baseless.

HT Image

Assistant Public Relations Officer of the Army Veerendra Singh said in an email to HT, “It is clarified that Army has no arrangement of giving any monetary benefit or promotional incentives to officer and personnel below officer rank, for killing terrorists. It is reiterated that the promotion system is not ‘event based’ and a holistical view of the individual’s overall performance is taken over a number of years, before clearing him for promotion.”

The mail did not make any mention of the Machil encounter on April 30 in which three villagers were reported to have been killed by armymen who claimed they were terrorists. Singh said the army has a “very effective, fair and speedy investigative and justice delivery mechanism which is geared towards the special requirement of a highly disciplined body of men.”

Police probe into the encounter have established that money played a role. The three civilians who took the three villagers to the army in Kupwara district, have admitted to having received Rs 50,000 each.

A source reasserted that Rs 2 lakh was given to each of the three armymen for the killings. Besides, unless there was some evidence against its men, the army would not have suspended an officer and removed another, the source said.