Court Reserves Order On Plea Seeking Further Investigation Into Major Gogoi Case

Srinagar: The court of chief judicial magistrate Srinagar on Saturday reserved for orders an application seeking “further investigation” into a case against army Major Leetul Gogoi, who was held with a girl at a local hotel here on 23 May.

The complaint/application has been filed by rights activist Ahsan Untoo.

On 31 May, police in its status report to the court had said that “no case is made out against Gogoi and neither the hotelier nor the girl had filed any complaint.”

However, advocates Zaffar Qureshi and Bilal Ahmad appearing for the complainant invoked section 66 IT Act while referring to the “fake account” Major Gogoi had allegedly created in the name of “Ubaid Arman” on the Facebook.

“Police has not investigated into the motive behind creating the fake account. Creating fake account by any person is itself an offence under the IT Act,” Qureshi said.

He said the court was competent and has enough powers to recommend court martial of Major Gogoi.

“Gogoi was posted in Budgam but he had come to Srinagar in civvies in a private car, booked a room in a local hotel in Srinagar through online portal. His arrival to Srinagar is unbecoming (of an army officer). Court may recommend to his commanding officer to initiate court martial proceeding against him,” he submitted.

“It may be a case of human trafficking and further investigation is needed to ascertain the facts,” the counsel pleaded.

“If we agree that it was an intimacy of two persons – the girl and Major Gogoi – what was the role of Sameer Malla. The police have not shown seriousness in the case. The police have not investigated the role of Sameer Malla also,” advocate Bilal Ahmad pleaded, adding that the role of Malla should also be probed.

He submitted that family of the girl had given statement to the media that “Major Gogoi and Sameer Malla used to visit the family. That angle has also not been investigated.”

The girl who was held by the police with major Gogoi from the hotel in Srinagar, had earlier recorded her statement before a magistrate in Srinagar saying that she was “friends” with the army major and that the trip to the city was “out of my own will and there was no force.”

The testimony of the girl was recorded by the magistrate on 23 May 2018 and on 31 May 2018 the police submitted it before the chief judicial magistrate Srinagar to support its status report.

The court posted the case for 30 July 2018.