Army finds 9 soldiers guilty of killing Kashmiri teenagers
The Army has admitted that it was a case of "mistaken identity" when they fired at the Maruti car the boys were driving.
The Indian Army on Thursday found nine soldiers, including an officer, guilty of killing two Kashmiri teenagers when they opened fire on a car in Jammu and Kashmir's Budgam district earlier this month.
The Army had admitted that it was a case of "mistaken identity" when they fired at the Maruti car the boys were driving. "There was some information about a white car with terrorists. Obviously, the identity was mistaken in this case. We take responsibility for the death," Lt General D S Hooda of the Northern Army command had said on November 7.
The two teenagers, identified as Faisal Yusuf Bhat and Mehrajuddin Dar, were killed on November 3 while two others - Shaker Bhat and Zahid Naqash - were injured when soldiers of 53 Rashtriya Rifles opened fire on the Maruti car they were travelling in at Chattergam village in Badgam district, 20 km from Srinagar.
The Army had claimed that the driver of the car did not stop at a mobile vehicle check post after he was signalled to do so. An inquiry was later ordered into the killing.
Clashes had also broken out between the locals and security personnel in Budgam over the killing of the two teenagers. The National Human Rights Commission had also issued a notice to the Defence Ministry and the Jammu and Kashmir police over the killing.