Army men on Tuesday allegedly thrashed and detained an on-duty Subdivisional Magistrate (SDM) near the Qazigund area of Anantnag district along the NH-44.
An FIRwas filed in the case late Tuesday evening,
The SDM of the Dooru area in Anantnag district, Ghulam Rasool Wani, was travelling along with his four colleagues when the incident took place.
Wani said the incident happened at the Dalwach crossing near Qazigund, where the Army had stopped civilian traffic unnecessarily.
“We were also stopped despite the fact I was travelling in a government vehicle and had a signage indicating that I was an SDM,” Wani said, adding that he still made his driver stop and waited for a nod to move ahead.
However, Wani said, out of the blue, an Army man approached their vehicle and smashed its panes.
“They took my driver out and started beating him. When I tried to intervene and save him, I was beaten as well. They dragged me by collar,” Wani said.
He alleged that the Army also smashed all the five phones that they were carrying. “I was held hostage along with my employees for more than half an hour before we somehow contacted the Deputy Commissioner’s (DC’s) office. DC sahib came and saved us from the clutches of the Army men,” Wani said. Deputy Commissioner, Anantnag, Khalid Jahangir, said he was looking into the matter and details would be shared with the press later.
The Army also maintained that the matter was being looked into. “We are ascertaining facts,” Srinagar-based defence spokesperson Rajesh Kalia said.
Meanwhile, an FIR was filed on Wednesday against army personnel for allegedly thrashing a sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) in Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag district, police said.
Dooru SDM Ghulam Rasool Wani on Tuesday alleged that army personnel manhandled him and four other state government employees who were on duty with him.
He said his official vehicle was also damaged.
The soldiers were booked under sections of Ranbir Penal Code (RPC) for voluntarily causing hurt and wrongful restrain at the Qazigund police station.
Government employees detailed on election duty in Anantnag for April 23 poll on Tuesday refused perform the duties unless an FIR was registered against the soldiers involved in the incident.
