Baramulla: An army officer was killed by his subordinate soldier after a heated argument in North Kashmir’s Baramulla district, police said on Tuesday.
The incident occurred at Butcher Post in the Uri sector.
Defense sources said Major Shikhar Thapa objected to the use of cell-phone by a soldier on duty. While confiscating his phone, the soldier lost cool and entered into an argument with the officer.
Sources added that during the course of the argument, the soldier fired two bullets from his service rifle resulting into the death of the Army Major.
The deceased belonged to 71 Armed Regiment and was presently posted with 8 Rashtriya Rifles. Reports said that the accused soldier has been disarmed and arrested.
Fratricide incidents in armed forces stationed in Jammu and Kashmir are not uncommon. In past as well, so many troopers have fallen prey to the bullets of their own colleagues.
In 2011, three jawans of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) pertaining to 18th Battalion were killed when some irate jawans opened fire at each other in a camp in South Kashmir’s Kulgam district. One jawan S.D.Murthy was critically injured in the shootout. The three jawans who lost their life in the fratricide incident were later identified as Head Constables Suman Pillay and P Sibbu and Javid Hussain.
In the same year, a Border Security Force trooper Head Constable P K Hanjak of 2nd battalion allegedly fired from point blank range on his colleague Susheel Kumar outside Airforce Station Awnatipora, in south Kashmir causing his on spot death. The incident had occurred after a scuffle between the two jawans.
In 2011, April, an enraged army trooper shot dead four of his colleagues including Junior Commissioned Officer inside heavily-guarded camp near Panzgam village in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district. Another trooper was also injured in the shooting incident before the jawan was overpowered and disarmed.
In May 2013, an Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) soldier, Vijay Kumar, opened fire from his service rifle on his colleagues sleeping in a camp in Police LIne Kishtwar resulting in the death of two soldiers who were later identified as Narinder Singh and Veer Singh. Two soldiers were also injured in that fratricide incident whom the police identified as Ravinder Nath and Habib-ul-Islam.
In the same year in another case of fratricide incident, Sepoy Ritender opened fired on his fellow colleague Sepoy Mukesh Tiwari at Rashtriya Rifles Unit in border belt of Kala in Noushera sector of the distric Rajouri killing him on spot.
In yet another fratricide incident in April 2013, a soldier Satish Kumar shot dead a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) identified as Rajinder Singh inside an army camp in Larnoo Kokernag.
In July 2016, an army jawan Sepoy B Venkataiah was killed while Havaldar Manohar Singh was injured in exchange of fire between the two at Safapora Camp in Ganderbal district of Central Kashmir.
Continued deployment under hostile conditions, separation from families, and lack of recreational facilities are among the factors, experts believe to be the cause of such incidents.
