Srinagar, Feb 9: The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear the petition moved by Lieutenant Colonel (retd) Karamveer Singh, the father of Major Aditya, who has been booked by the Jammu & Kashmir police for the firing incident in Shopian last month, which claimed three civilian lives.

The petitioner has sought the quashing of the FIR against his son, citing the clarification statement issued by the Army which said Major Aditya was not present at the site where shooting erupted in Shopian.

"Major Aditya was leading an administrative convoy away from the site of shooting," the Army had said.

Aditya, member of the 10 Garhwal Rifles, has been named in the FIR lodged by the J&K police against the Army for the death of protesting civilians.

The petitioner argues that imposition of such penal provisions on military personnel "for discharging their duty" would hurt their morale.

"Army personnel present there were doing lawful military duty peacefully and who, by violent actions of the mob, were forced to take lawful actions for protection of government property without any excessive use of force," the veteran stated in his plea.

Apart from the FIR against the Army personnel, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has constituted a special investigation team to probe the firing incident. The SIT report will be submitted within 20 days.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 09, 2018 11:44 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).