Army soldier detained at Srinagar airport along with woman, minor girl released

Srinagar: An Army personnel who was detained on Saturday at Srinagar airport along with a woman and a minor girl while on way to Delhi has been released on Sunday, reported PTI.

Quoting unnamed officials, the report said this was done after “preliminary questioning” during which the women said that she and the minor girl were travelling with him “of their own free will”.

Tourist police had detained the soldier on Saturday at the Srinagar airport when he was travelling with two Bandipora women (name withheld), one of whom is a minor, to Delhi. The trio was later handed over to Police Station Humhama.

The soldier had been identified as Lance Naik Ashok Kumar Paul son of Rajander Paul, a resident of Uttar Pradesh. He is posted at Ajas Bandipora with 13 Rashtriya Rifles.

The minor girl is said to be a niece of the woman.

The woman, believed to be in her early twenties, told the police that she and her minor niece were travelling with the soldier “of their own free will”, officials said.

The officials said the trio was let off after preliminary questioning. The woman and her niece have been handed over to their families, they added.

The report quoted an unnamed Army official as saying that action will be taken against the soldier as per rules as he was found in “violation of the standard operating procedure”.

In May 2018, Army Major Leetul Gogoi was detained by police along with a local woman at a hotel in Srinagar.

The Army ordered disciplinary action against the Major and a court of inquiry found him accountable for “fraternising with locals in violation of instructions to the contrary” and “being away from the place of duty while in the operational area”.

The Major was punished with a reduction in seniority and exit from the Kashmir Valley.

Major Gogoi had hit the headlines after he tied a man to a jeep purportedly as a shield against protestors who were hurling stones during elections in Budgam on April 9, 2017.