CHANDIGARH: The Chandigarh bench of Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) has upheld the Army’s decision to award “severe displeasure” to Brigadier P Acharya, the then Rashtriya Rifles commander in Poonch region of Jammu and Kashmir, over the deaths of three civilians during interrogation following terror attack on an Army column in December 2023.
Four soldiers were killed in the attack, two of whom were beheaded.
The bench, comprising Justice Sudhir Mittal and Lt Gen Rambir Singh, asserted that “emotions cannot override military discipline and the legal obligation to treat the civilians humanely” for troops involved in follow-up operations after having lost their brothers-in-arms.
In an order pronounced on August 20, the bench found no illegality or procedural violation in the action taken against the officiating commanding officer (CO) of the RR battalion and declined to interfere with the army’s decision. It observed that the CO had directed a company commander to use “slightly harsh” methods on suspects to extract information.
Three civilians were picked up for questioning by the troops of the 48 Rashtriya Rifles (RR) in the wake of an ambush by terrorists on the Dehra Ki Gali-Buffliaz road on December 21, 2023, which left four soldiers dead and three injured. Several men from Topa Pir were picked up a day later, and three of them were eventually found dead with injuries indicating torture.
The bench observed that Brigadier P Acharya had displayed anger, assaulted a suspect and failed to exercise adequate command and control to ensure restraint by officers directly serving under him.