Army-Cops Clash In J&K's Kupwara, Case Against 16 Including 3 Lt Colonels

Jammu and Kashmir police have filed a case against 16 army soldiers, including three officers, for assaulting policemen at a police station in Kupwara district. Five police personnel, including the Station House Officer, were injured in the incident, official sources said.

A video purportedly showing the soldiers storming inside the police station late Tuesday evening was widely shared on social media.

The army has denied assaulting the cops and termed it an incident of "minor differences".

"The reports of altercation between police and army personnel and beating of police personnel are mis-founded and incorrect. Minor differences between the police personnel and a territorial army unit on an operational matter have been amicably resolved," said a defence spokesperson.

In the FIR, police have named 16 soldiers, including three officers holding the rank of Lt Colonel. They have been booked on charges of rioting, attempt to murder, and the kidnapping of policemen at the police station.

On Tuesday, the cops raided the house of a territorial army soldier at Batpora village in Kupwara as part of their probe into a case, according to reports. Later around 9:40 pm, the army soldiers swooped down on the police station and attacked them, said the First Information Report (FIR).

A huge number of armed and uniformed personnel of 160 Territorial Army, led by the three officers, unauthorisedly entered the police station, it said. The FIR said the troops, "without any provocation, severely attacked the staff and officers present at the police station with rifle butts, kicks and sticks."

"The information was immediately conveyed to senior police officers who rushed to the police station to rescue them. Upon seeing the arrival of police units and senior police officers, the alleged personnel and officers of 160 Territorial Army led by Lieutenant Colonel Ankit Sood, Raju Chauhan, and Nikhil brandished their weapons and snatched the mobile phones of the injured personnel and SHO PS Kupwara Inspector Mohammad Ishaq," reads the FIR.

The troops have also been accused of kidnapping the head constable. "While fleeing, they (army men) abducted MHC Ghulam Rasool and absconded from the spot," the FIR said.

The injured cops, including the SHO, have been shifted to a hospital for treatment. They are now stated to be stable.