A detailed investigation by The Caravan Magazine has revealed that two high-ranking army generals allegedly oversaw the torture and murder of civilians in the wake of a militant ambush in Poonch in Jammu and Kashmir.
The incident, which occurred between December 21 and 22, 2023, involved Operation Pangai, ostensibly aimed at capturing militants but reportedly turned into a mass torture event.
“In this story we have found solid evidence that the Indian Army tortured 25 civilians and killed 3 in a coordinated operation in the restive Jammu region on 22 December,” says senior journalist Jatinder Kaur who wrote the investigative piece.
“Video evidence indicates senior military officers were likely giving directions for the torture in three separate army bases to three different companies,” she said in a post on X.
According to the report, after militants attacked an army convoy, killing four and beheading two soldiers, Lieutenant General Sandeep Jain and Major General Maneesh Gupta, among others, organized the operation from the Echo Company Base at Dera Ki Gali. The operation led to the arrest of 26 men from the Gujjar community across Rajouri and Poonch districts, where they were subjected to severe torture in three army posts.
Witness accounts describe brutal beatings, the use of chili powder, drowning, and electrocution, resulting in three civilian deaths. Videos of the torture were leaked, sparking outrage online.
The three civilians killed were: Shaukat Hussain, Safeer Ahmed and Shabeer Hussain.
“Safeer working for the Intelligence Bureau was tortured and killed by 48 RR of the Indian Army in Rajouri. Zainab, Safeer’s mother fainted on seeing his body, a deep gash across his forehead from the post-mortem that the army had hurriedly conducted. She fainted repeatedly over the next few days. ‘They returned his body, mutilated with multiple fractures and a broken neck,’ she told me,” Tur said in a social media post.
“They started assaulting us immediately, without even asking any questions,” Farooq, a survivor told The Caravan Magazine. “I lost consciousness soon. When we went there, Shaukat, Safeer, Shabeer and Riyaz were already laying there after the torture.”
“They threw Shaukat on the ground, and then these three soldiers started jumping on his chest to see if he was alive,” described a local resident, Shehnaaz Akhtar, witnessing the aftermath of the torture.
“His body had turned black and the nails of his hands and toes had been pulled out,” Shaukat’s father, Nazir Hussain, said, describing the state in which his son’s body was returned. “My child was savagely brutalised.”
The investigation report by Tur points to a coordinated effort rather than acts of rogue soldiers, with WhatsApp messages and documents from army inquiries suggesting direct involvement of the senior officers.
Despite the gravity of the accusations, neither Jain nor Gupta has faced significant repercussions from the military court of inquiry or the Armed Forces Tribunal. Instead, lower-ranking officers have received mild punishments, while the civilian justice system has yet to see movement, with the FIR against the deaths vaguely naming “unknown person 1.”
The families of the deceased received compensation described as “blood money” from the army, alongside some government aid, but justice remains elusive.
The revelations have raised serious questions about accountability within the Indian Army, particularly in counter-insurgency operations in sensitive border areas like Poonch.
