SHRC directs PDP-BJP govt to pay Rs 10 lakh as compensation for 'human shield' victim in Kashmir

Farooq Ahmad Dar tied to army jeep.

New Delhi: The State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) on Monday directed Jammu and Kashmir government to pay Rs 10 lakh as compensation to Farooq Ahmad Dar, who was tied to an army jeep in Jammu and Kashmir. Major Leetul Gogoi, who had strapped embroidery artisan Dar to a jeep that drove past stone-pelters during elections in Srinagar on April 9, had said he had taken the decision in "a fraction of a second" and had he not done so and fired, many civilian lives would have been lost. The incident drew widespread condemnation for using a human as a shield against stone pelters. In an interview, the 26-year-old Kashmiri had said "I am shattered. I was wrong to expect any justice." Dar, an embroidery artisan, had this question for the person who rewarded the major: "If his son faces a similar treatment at the hands of the officer, I would see whether he will still reward him." Dar had challenged those who had claimed he was a stone-thrower to prove that he ever picked a stone and he iterates that he was among the few people who voted that day in the Srinagar Lok Sabha by-election. The International Forum for Justice and Human Rights Jammu and Kashmir (IFJHRJK) has filed a petition in the SHRC against the April 9 incident. "We filed a petition on April 17 which was admitted by the SHRC and it subsequently served a notice to the Senior Superintendent of Police, Budgam," IFJHRJK chairman M Ahsan Untoo was quoted by news agency PTI. The police officer had submitted a detailed report along with testimonies of seven witnesses on April 27, confirming that Dar had been used as a "human shield" by the Army, Untoo said Dar had undergone a medical checkup at the Government Psychiatric Diseases Hospital here and the doctors confirmed that he had developed "psychological problems" following the incident, Untoo said.