Army orders court of inquiry against Major Leetul Gogoi

NEW DELHI: The Army on Friday ordered a court of inquiry against Major Leetul Gogoi, who was briefly detained by the J&K Police earlier this week after an altercation when he allegedly tried to enter a hotel with a young Kashmiri woman, even as General Bipin Rawat said exemplary punishment would be given to the officer if he was found guilty of any offence.
"If any officer of the Indian Army is found guilty of any offence, we take strictest possible action...If Major Gogoi has done something wrong, I assure you he will be awarded punishment at the earliest... The punishment will set an example," said the Army chief at Pahalgam, during a visit to J&K to review the security situation there.
General Rawat's strong statement comes after Major Gogoi, who was at the center of the "human shield" controversy at Budgam district in April last year, triggered yet another furore on Wednesday. He was detained along with the Kashmiri woman and a third person named Sameer Malla by the police following an altercation over them getting a room in the Grand Mamta Hotel in Srinagar.
The J&K Police, which is investigating the incident, handed over Major Gogoi to his 53 Rashtriya Rifles (Punjab Regiment) unit at Beerwa in Budgam district after recording his statement later in the day, as was earlier reported by TOI.
"The Army court of inquiry (CoI) will conduct a probe into the entire set of circumstances. Appropriate action will be taken after the CoI is finalized. Subsequent legal steps like the recording of the summary of evidence and court martial (military trial) is ordered only if prima facie evidence of some wrongdoing being committed is found in the CoI," said a senior officer.
Incidentally, the Army CoI into the "human shield" incident is yet to be finalized. Major Gogoi had then faced flak after he controversially decided to truss up a civilian named Farooq Ahmad Dar on his jeep's bonnet as "a human shield" to rescue over a dozen security and election personnel from a stone-pelting mob in Budgam district on April 9 last year.
Brushing aside criticism that Major Gogoi had violated human rights, Gen Rawat had awarded Major Gogoi with the chief of army staff commendation card for his "sustained efforts in counter-insurgency operations as well as his presence of mind and initiative to prevent bloodshed in a volatile situation". This had effectively led to a clean chit to Major Gogoi, who rose from the ranks as a jawan to get commissioned as an officer in the Army Service Corps, in the CoI.