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BSF submits report on Gool killings
Kashmir Times. Dated: 7/26/2013 12:03:59 AM
`BSF, JKP fired in self-defence as per SOP’
JAMMU, Jul 25 (Agencies): A week after the four civilians were killed and 42 others were injured in the firing by security forces in Gool area of Ramban district, the Special Director General BSF Dilip Trivedi, is learnt to have submitted its report to the Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde.
According to the initial inputs, Trivedi was reported to have maintained in the report that BSF, along with the State police, had to fire as the mob was running down the camp of the para-military force.
According to sources, the initial report prepared by the BSF also said its troops were “forced” and “compelled” to fire in accordance of the “Standard Operating Procedures (SOP)” laid down for the safety of personnel and the “weapons”.
It said the troops had fired in self-defence to save its men and weapons. The BSF has already ordered a Staff Court of Inquiry into the incident but has not named any individual, the sources said.
The report contains annexures explaining the versions of both paramilitary and the JKP personnel and has also appended photographs of the spot. The BSF is guarding the railway line being laid in this area.
The report stated that the firing was done both by the BSF and the State police. The latest inquiry also found that the earlier version sent by its Jammu frontier was correct.
The BSF denied charges of sacrilege as claimed by the locals and said “25-year-old Mohammed Latif had made these baseless allegations against the personnel as he was stopped and questioned about his presence in the area.”
It claimed, “The man ran into a religious place and made an announcement on loudspeakers claiming that BSF personnel had committed sacrilege prompting a crowd of around 400-500 persons outside the BSF post Dharam.”
Four people were killed and 44 injured in the violent incident that led the force as well as police to fire at the mob.
The State Government has also ordered a magisterial inquiry into the incident and the local police detained the incharge Police Post Sangaldan Sub Inspector Afzal Wani till their investigations in the case were over.