Asserting that media reports about the Shopian encounter is ‘misleading’, the Army on Monday said that there is no system of cash awards for its personnel for any acts in combat situations or otherwise in the line of duty. Defence Ministry spokesperson Colonel Rajesh Kalia was responding to media reports alleging that Captain Bhupinder Singh, who was involved in the fake encounter in south Kashmir district of Shopian in July, conspired with two civilians to carry out the operation for reward money of Rs 20 lakh.
He said that there are media reports quoting that Amshipora encounter actions were driven by Rs 20 Lakh award for killing of militants.
He said it is clarified that Indian Army has no system of cash awards for its personnel for any acts in combat situations or otherwise in the line of duty. “The report is malafide (misleading) and not based on facts of the processes internal to Indian Army,” he added.Police in December said the three civilians from Rajouri, who were killed in south Kashmir district of Shopian in July 2020, were innocent as the encounter was staged by an Army officer and two other persons.
The Army had on July 18, 2020 claimed to have killed three unidentified militants in an orchard at Amshipora in Shopian. However, after the pictures of the slain militants did rounds on social media, the families of the deceased refuted these allegations. The families claimed that the three had no links to militants and were working in Shopian as labourers.
Following these claims, the Army and Jammu and Kashmir Police ordered separate inquiries into the matter.
A formal inquiry into the killing of the three youth began in August. The Court of Inquiry, which completed its investigation in September, found out prima facie evidence indicating that during the operation, powers vested under the AFSPA 1990 were exceeded and the Do’s and Don’ts of Chief of Army Staff (COAS) as approved by the Supreme Court were contravened. Disciplinary proceedings under the Army Act were initiated against the accused personnel.Police in a statement issued on December 27 said the trio, identified as Captain Bhoopendra Singh alias Major Basheer Khan of 62 Rashtriya Rifles (RR), Tabish Nazir and Bilal Ahmed Lone, abducted the civilians and staged the encounter.“They planted illegally acquired weapons and material on their dead bodies, after stripping them of their identities and tagged them as hardcore militants in possession of war-like stores and deliberately providing false information to colleagues and seniors,” the statement said.