STRUCTURES OF VIOLENCE

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| Structures of Violence
Introduction
On 6 January 1993, personnel of the 94 Battalion,
Border Security Force [94 Bn. BSF] headquartered at
Fruit Mandi, Sopore led by their Commanding Ofcer
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S. Thangappan shot and killed 46 persons including
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one woman and at least two teenagers , injuring 10-
20 others. Many of those killed were shopkeepers or
traders working in the Main Chowk, Sopore. BSF
personnel burnt down the Sopore Chowk area, on
both sides of the Tehsil Road over a stretch of around 2
kilometers including roadside areas of Shahabad,
Bobimir Sahab, Muslim Peer, Shallapora and Kralteng
[see map of the Sopore Massacre]. The property burnt
down included around 250-300 shops, 30 houses, a
cinema hall (Samad Talkies), a Women's Degree
College, a public school, 4 or 5 bank branches and 4
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vehicles.
The CBI was assigned responsibility for the
investigation of the case by the Government of Jammu
and Kashmir on 23.01.1993 and led a closure report
listing its ndings on 16.07.2013, more than twenty
years after the massacre. In its closure report it asked
for the case to be shut, with no prosecutions.
According to the closure report led by the CBI before
the Court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Srinagar the
Sopore massacre was the result of “cross-ring”
during an “encounter” between “militants” who
ambushed an “army convoy” of ve guard vehicles en
route to Kupwara, blasted an Improvised Explosive
Device [IED] and “opened re from automatic
weapons” on a Road Opening Party [ROP] of the 94
Battalion BSF. In its version of events, the troops
responded to this attack by ring 981 rounds in “selfdefense”.
According to the CBI, the militants engaged
in “indiscriminate ring” on “innocent civilians” and
troops of the 94 Battalion of the BSF with the motive to
“tarnish the image” of the security forces in Sopore.
The CBI contends that the re that damaged “property
worth crores” was caused by “explosion of gas
cylinders” at a shop in Bhuggo Chowk where the gas
cylinders were stored, in the ensuing “cross-ring”.
Contextualizing Command and Camp Structure
in Sopore
The 94 Bn. BSF was shifted to Sopore in April 1992 to
replace the 76 Battalion BSF which was in control in
Sopore. The 94 Bn. BSF remained there until 7
January 1993, the day after the massacre, when it
was ordered to move to Pulwama to relieve 19
Battalion BSF, in an attempt by the administration to
manage the mass protests and anger that spilled
onto the public domain in the wake of the massacre. A
Report by the Sopore based Jammu and Kashmir
Human Rights Forum states that Sopore was burnt
by the BSF for the time rst on 13 September 1992
when the BSF shot dead three men, gang-raped a
young woman and set ablaze 9 residential houses
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and 11 shops in the Nahrapora area of Sopore.
The 94 Bn. BSF was divided into A, B, C, D, E and F
Companies, headquartered at the Town Hall (led by
Assistant Commandant Ashok Yadav), Degree
College (led by Assistant Commandant Prakash
Singh), Indian Technology Institute (led by Assistant
Commandant Balwant Bhaskar Joshi) the Jammu
and Kashmir Bank on Tehsil Road (led by Inspector
Ram Saran Singh), the State Bank of India at the
Main Chowk (led by Deputy Commandant Jaideo
Singh) and Arampora (led by and Assistant
Commandant Kartar Singh Saroha) [see map of the
Sopore Massacre]. The Tactical Headquarters of the
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94 Bn. BSF were located at Arampora . The number
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of troops in each Company was about 126 apart
from 30 additional personnel on “reserve” at Battalion
Head Quarter at Fruit Mandi who were retained for
“performing the operational as well as camp
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duties” .
All companies were located within a distance of 1-3
kilometers from the Main Chowk, Sopore;
consequently there would have been 786 personnel
of the BSF in and around the area circumscribed by
the six Companies. All Company Commanders were
responsible for patrolling duties, the Road Opening
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Party and other operational and security duties.
Each Company was further divided at the Platoon
level and commanded by a Platoon Commander,
including Inspector BS Rawat (for the B Company),
Inspector Gurcharan Singh (for the C Company) and
Inspector Ajaib Singh (for the E Company). The
C o m m a n d i n g O f c e r o f t h e B a t t a l i o n , S
Thangappan, was the “overall controlling authority”
and was responsible for the “smooth administration
and operational exercises in the area where the
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battalion [was] located” . Assistant Commandant
90 The CBI states there are 44 victims and that correspondingly 44 Medico-Legal Certicates [MLC's] are on record. But, in reality there are
45 victims listed in the Annexure B of the closure report submitted by the CBI. No. 39, Annexure B, has two names of victims: Ghulam
Rasool Shalla and Sajad Ahmad Shalla, both of whom were killed in the massacre. Of the two the CBI has made available the MLC of
only Ghulam Rasool Shalla. Our research reveals that both Abdul Rashid War and his son Nazir Ahmad War were killed in the massacre.
However, the CBI lists only Abdul Rasheed War as a victim. MLC No. 49 relates to his death.
91 MLC of Sajad Ahmad Shalla and Mohammad Ashraf Shalla prepared by Dr. Mohammad Yatoo lists both as aged around 15 years.
92 Statement of Abdul Ahad Wani, Naik Section Grade No 49 Fire Service, Sopore to the CBI, corroborated by Statement of Abdul Sattar
Mir, Leading Fireman Fire Station Sopore to the CBI.
93 Page 22, 'Set Ablaze- Apple Town Sopore', Jammu and Kashmir Human Rights Forum, Sopore.
94 In the Section 161 Statements of the BSF, there are references to Tactical [TAC] and Battalion Head Quarters. The Tactical Headquarters'
at Arampora, while the Battalion Headquarter' are located at Fruit Mandi.
95 Statement of Balwant Bhaskar Joshi, Assistant Commandant, Company Commander of the C Company, 94 Battalion BSF to the CBI on
10th November 1993.
96 For the over all deployment and command structure of the BSF in Jammu and Kashmir, see Chart 6, in Chapter 1.
97 Statement of Kartar Singh Saroha, Assistant Commandant, Company Commander of the F Company, 94 Battalion BSF to the CBI on
15th October 1993.
98 Statement of Kartar Singh Saroha, Assistant Commandant, Company Commander of the F Company, 94 Battalion BSF to the CBI on
15th October 1993.