Daughters of 2 Army officers moved an application seeking restoration of Human Rights of the security forces personnel in Jammu and Kashmir, who often have to face the unwarranted wrath of murderous mob of stone-pelters. The plea has sought the formulation of comprehensive policy for the protection of Human Rights of security forces serving in Jammu and Kashmir. The Supreme Court today agreed to examine the plea and the bench comprising of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Sanjiv Khanna issued notices to the Union of India, Ministry of Defence, Jammu and Kashmir and National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). The plea is filed by 19-year-old Preeti Kedar Gokhale and 20-year-old Kajal Mishra.

 

 

 

Unruly mob of stone-pelters often gather at the place of encounter and shower stones at the security forces during the counter-terrorism operations and cause grave injury to them. Even during the general movement of security forces, their vehicle is attacked by such stone-pelters. Therefore, the plea has sought formulation of a comprehensive policy to curb human rights violations of security force personnel in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The two girls have sought a comprehensive policy from the centre for the protection of human rights of armed forces, who come in contact with unruly stone-pelters while performing their duty.

 

 

 

 

The petitioners are the daughters of army personnel- one serving and another retired. The petitioners said that they moved a complaint regarding human rights violation of army men in National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) but NHRC transferred their complaint to State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) of Jammu and Kashmir on the grounds of lack of jurisdiction. Hence, they moved the plea in the Supreme Court. The plea said "There is no mechanism put in place, by the Centre or the State to deal with such brazen acts of human rights violation of the forces. The armed forces personnel is deployed in these disturbed areas, by orders of the respondents, to discharge their duties. As such, it is necessary that the respondent No. 1 (Centre), puts in place a mechanism to deal with and enforce the security of its forces," the plea said.

 

 

 

 

Last year as many as 759 cases of stone-pelting were reported from Kashmir valley. A 22-year-old soldier Sepoy Rajinder Singh also lost his life last year, when a murderous mob of stone-pelters threw stones at an army convoy in south Kashmir’s Anantnag. Apart from him many of our brave soldiers sustain grave injuries during stone-pelting and it is often used as a tactic to ensure the safe escape of terrorists from the site of encounter.