New Delhi: Major Aditya Kumar and Rifleman Aurangzeb (posthumously) will be awarded the Shaurya Chakra gallantry award this year. The Shaurya Chakra is awarded for gallantry other than in the face of the enemy.
Aurangzeb was abducted and killed by terrorists on June 14 in Pulwama, Jammu and Kashmir, while he was on his home to celebrate Eid. He was a part of the commando unit that had killed ‘A++’ category Hizbul Mujahideen commander Sameer Tiger in an encounter in April.
A day after Aurangzeb was killed, terrorists had released a 1.15-minute video in which they were heard questioning the 24-year-old about the encounters. “Yes I am a rifleman and my duty was on the post,” Aurangzeb could be seen replying to an abductor's question.
Major Aditya, on the other hand, got caught in a controversy after his unit fired on a stone-pelting mob in Shopian district on January 27, leaving three civilian protesters dead.
Following outrage over the incident, the Jammu and Kashmir police had registered a case under sections 302 (murder) and 307 (attempt to murder) of the Ranbir Penal Code against the personnel of 10, Garhwal unit, of the Army, including the Major.
But the state government later told the Supreme Court that Major Aditya was not named as an accused during a hearing to quash the FIR.
On February 12, the court had restrained the Jammu and Kashmir police from taking any “coercive steps” against Army officers, including Major Aditya Kumar.
The plea in Supreme Court had been filed by father of the major, Lieutenant Colonel Karamveer Singh, who said that the incident related to an Army convoy that was on bona fide military duty in an area under the AFSPA (Armed Forces [Special Powers] Acts) and was isolated by an “unruly and deranged” mob pelting stones, causing damage to military vehicles.
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