Only 66 of 1,695 rights abuse claims found to be true in 22 years: Army

NEW DELHI: The Army claims only 66 out of the 1,736 allegations levelled against the force for violating human rights have been found to be true since 1994, in which around 150 soldiers have been punished and compensation awarded in 49 cases.A senior officer on Monday stressed the Indian Army ’s human rights record “is one of the best in the world, which is appreciated globally”. This comes in the backdrop of strident criticism of the “human shield” episode, which saw Major Leetul Gogoi controversially truss up a civilian on his jeep’s bonnet to rescue over a dozen security and election personnel from a stone-pelting mob in Kashmir last month.Reeling out statistics, the officer said the Army had received 1,736 allegations, primarily during counter-insurgency operations in J&K and north-east, in the period stretching from 1994 to April 2017. “Of them, 1,695 cases have been probed till now, while the rest 41 are under investigation. Of the cases investigated, 1,629 were found to be either false or baseless. In the 66 cases found to be correct and true, 150 personnel were punished and compensation awarded in 49 cases,” he added.But Gen Bipin Rawat ’s move to award the chief of army staff (COAS) commendation card to Major Gogoi even before the court of inquiry into the incident could be finalised, virtually giving him a clean chit, has further fuelled criticism over the entire manner in which the force has handled the “human shield” episode.The Army chief, however, has made it clear he awarded the COAS commendation card to Major Gogoi to boost the morale of all the young officers and jawans engaged in counter-terrorism operations in a “dirty, proxy war”, amid stone-pelting mobs in the Kashmir valley.