“On 22 December 2023, at least 26 men from the predominantly Muslim Gujjar community were picked up from several villages in Rajouri and Poonch districts of Jammu and Kashmir and taken to three different army posts, where they were severely tortured. From witness accounts collected during our investigation of the incident that was published in the February 2024 issue of The Caravan, contributing writer Jatinder Kaur Tur found, the army mercilessly beat some of the men with wooden rods and metal pipes and put chilli powder put into their eyes and rectums, and drowned and electrocuted others. Three of them died as a result. A video of the torture at Dera Ki Gali, within the same compound where five senior officers had set up their control room, was soon leaked on social media.
The Caravan had bolstered these findings with medical reports of the victims, internal army documents and the FIR registered in the case. The investigation indicated that since orders were sent to three different army companies to commit these atrocities in three different camps, it was not merely rogue soldiers venting their frustration after losing comrades in a militant attack, but a coordinated, directed, large-scale operation of torture.
Soon after publishing, on 12 February 2024, the government ordered that our story be taken down stating that it “portrayed the alleged actions of the security forces as a pre-planned operation.” This order is being challenged by The Caravan in court.
In our latest follow up of the story, The Caravan has accessed new material which clarifies the command structure that was in place during the torture and murder. This includes WhatsApp chats between the officers, confidential documents from a court of inquiry held by the army about the incident and documents from subsequent Armed Forces Tribunal hearings. The documents strongly indicate that the operation was led by two officers, Lieutenant General Sandeep Jain, the general officer commanding the 16 Corps, and Major General Maneesh Gupta, the GOC of Counter Insurgency Force Romeo, which oversees the Rajouri sector.
Documents from the AFT and the court of inquiry—which began just two days after the incident of torture—show that the army leadership was aware, in intimate detail, of which individuals conducted the torture, on whose orders and under whose monitoring. The army leadership also appears to have been aware that most individuals who were picked up were civilians who had no links to militancy.
It is also now amply clear that the army was aware of the torture and deaths from the very start of the court of inquiry—even before The Caravan published the investigation.
Read our latest investigation.
Army officers testify that two generals oversaw the torture and murder of civilians in Poonch
Multiple officers have testified in front of a court of inquiry and the armed forces tribunal that the two generals who oversaw the torture of 26 and murder of three Gujjar men in Poonch, got away scot-free.”
Jatinder Kaur Tur
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