NEW DELHI, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- India's Supreme Court Monday stayed all criminal proceedings against a senior Army officer, who was last month arrested by the police for the deaths of three civilians in Indian-controlled Kashmir.
"There will be no coercive action against Major Aditya Kumar," the court said as it sought a response from the central and state governments within two weeks to a plea by the Army officer's father to quash the police case against his son.
In his plea, Major Kumar's father Karamveer Singh, also a former high-ranking Indian Army officer, told the top court a police case against serving Armymen would have a "numbing effect" on the morale of soldiers operating against all odds in "inhospitable terrain" for the country.
The civilian deaths took place on Jan. 27 when an Indian Army team opened fire after it was trapped by some 200 stone pelters in Shopian district. In the firing, three civilians lost their lives while eight others sustained injuries.
The Indian Army has claimed that the soldiers were forced to open fire in "self defense" as one of its officers was on the verge of getting lynched by the mob and that seven of its men also sustained injuries in the stone pelting.
Kashmir, a disputed territory over which India and Pakistan have fought three major wars in the past 70 years, has been of late witnessing a surge in militant attacks and stone-pelting by civilians on Indian security forces.