BJP Leader Sells ‘Army Human Shield’ T-Shirt Despite Backlash

The BJP Leader openly supports Major Gogoi’s action of using Kashmiri man as human shield during 2017 by-elections.

Farooq Dar, 36, was tied to a jeep, allegedly as a human shield against stone-pelters during polling in the Srinagar Lok Sabha by-election.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/@icakashmir

In April 2017, the Indian Army came under attack after a picture of a Kashmiri man tied to a jeep, and being used as a human shield by a Army officer, went viral.

Major Nitin Leetul Gogoi of the 53rd Rashtriya Rifles used 36-year-old Farooq Ahmad Dar during polling in the Srinagar Lok Sabha by-election.

There were gamut of reactions from people across the country, with some supporting the officer and the others slamming him. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley went to the extent of saying, “He didn’t harm the man. He used him to control the situation and then let him go.”

According to a 2017 report in Rising Kashmir, a BJP Leader is selling T-shirts promoting the human shield act on an online portal called T-shirt Bhaiya. The portal is run by Delhi BJP spokesperson Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga.

The T-shirt is being sold despite a defamation suit against Bagga. (Photo Courtesy: screengrab/ T-shirt Bhaiya)

The BJP leader is undeterred despite a defamation lawsuit. He even took to Twitter to declare that he would not stop selling these T-shirts at any cost.

The T-shirt is amongst the best selling T-shirts for the e-commerce portal, and Bagga has time and again defended his actions.

The incident had caused great embarrassment to the India Army as citizens across the country debated the legal and ethical implications of such an act. More so, he was conferred with with an award by the army for his “sustained efforts” in counter insurgency operations.

(With inputs from Rising Kashmir and The Wire.)