Army soldier briefly detained at Srinagar airport

The army soldier who was travelling with a woman and a minor girl was let off after questioning at Srinagar airport.

Srinagar:An Army personnel who was detained at the airport here along with a woman and a minor girl while on his way to Delhi was let off after preliminary questioning as the women said they were travelling with him of their own free will, officials said on Sunday.

The soldier, posted in Bandipora district in north Kashmir, was on Saturday detained at the Srinagar airport when he was travelling with two women, one of whom is a minor, to Delhi, they said.

The minor girl is a niece of the woman, the officials added. The woman, believed to be in her early twenties, told the police that she and her minor niece were travelling with the soldier of their own free will, they said.

Read: Soldier on way to Delhi with two minor girls held at Srinagar airport

The officials said the trio was let off after preliminary questioning. The woman and her niece have been handed over to their families, they added.

An Army official said action will be taken against the soldier as per the rules as he was found in violation of the standard operating procedure.

In May 2018, Army Major Leetul Gogoi was detained by police along with a local woman at a hotel here.

The Army ordered disciplinary action against the Major and a court of inquiry found him accountable for "fraternising with locals in violation of instructions to the contrary" and "being away from the place of duty while in the operational area.

The Major was punished with a reduction in seniority and exit from the Kashmir Valley.

Major Gogoi had hit the headlines after he tied a man to a jeep purportedly as a shield against an unruly mob which was hurling stones during a bypoll in Budgam, which forms part of the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat, on April 9, 2017.