Indian Army honours Major who tied Kashmiri man to jeep

He was awarded for "sustained efforts in counter insurgency operations"

The Indian Army has honoured Major Nitin Leetul Gogoi of 53 Rashtriya Rifles for a rather defensive act. Major Gogoi had tied a young man in front of a jeep last month in Kashmir as a human shield to avoid attack from stone-pelters. In Kashmir, a popular form of protest is to throw stones at soldiers.
At the time, this had created great controversy because the tactic does not come under any army rules. The Army had later said it was better than firing at the protesters.
The Army has awarded COAS (Chief of Army Staff) commendation to Major Gogoi "for sustained efforts in counter-insurgency operations".  The honours were done by Army Chief General Bipin Rawat during his recent visit to Jammu and Kashmir.
The April 9 incident in Budgam had exploded on the social media with liberals saying it was an unethical act of cowardice, and the Nationalists trolling the liberals and inviting them to handle the protesters in Kashmir with love. The Valley is in the throes of a general unrest.
Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had described the incident as shocking, and tweeted the photograph of the incident, which happened during the Srinagar by-polls.
Ironically, the Jammu and Kashmir Police had registered an FIR against the security forces. Following the general criticism, on April 15, the Army had constituted a court of inquiry into the episode.
During the hearing, the official position was reasserted: the man was tied to prevent stone-pelters from targeting soldiers during the record low turn-out Srinagar Lok Sabha by-poll last month.
The controversy got an additional lease of life on Monday when actor and BJP Member of Parliament Paresh Rawal joked on the  twitter that author and activist Arundhati Roy should be tied to an army jeep instead of a stone-pelter: "Instead of tying stone-pelter on the army jeep tie Arundhati Roy!"  
Roy has been a great critic of the army's presence in the Valley. She had also criticized the ruling BJP's handling of the Kashmir politics. 
Cynics said Roy manages to trigger controversies around the time of her book launches. Her new novel, 'The Ministry of Utmost Happiness', is just out. But this time around, the one who is helping her to get the headlines is Rawal.
Meanwhile, an army spokesperson stressed that officer Gogoi has been awarded the Chief of Army Staff's Commendation (COAS) card for "sustained efforts in CI (counter insurgency) operations". Sustained efforts imply that the officer has been recognized for work done by him over a period of time. This means the recognition is not specifically for his act of using a civilian as a shield to protect soldiers.
The incident has deepened the army-civilian divide and sparked violent protests in the Valley.
The government had backed the army, with its spokesperson saying in April that the officer-in-charge "did a smart thing and defused a nasty situation". Attorney general Mukul Rohtagi had said the Major was summoned by officials to a poll booth since they were surrounded by hundreds of suspected stone-pelters, and that he was doing his job.

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