IAF officer to face culpable homicide charge
New Delhi, May 22: The officer held responsible for the accidental shooting down of a military helicopter at the height of India-Pakistan tension in February will be charged by the Indian Air Force (IAF) for culpable homicide not amounting to murder along with three others, according to reports.
The IAF is yet to officially acknowledge reasons for the Mi-17 helicopter’s crash on 27 February, the day Indian and Pakistan air force engaged in aerial combat. Reports suggest that it was shot down in a friendly fire by IAF’s own air defence missile.
The Court of Inquiry into the incident killing all six onboard is yet to be completed.
The IAF maintains that the investigation was still going on but multiple reports indicate that there was a lapse in following the Standard Operating Procedures.
The report said that the officer who was presiding over operations will face charges of culpable homicide, a criminal offence. The incident had occurred in central Kashmir’s Budgam district when IAF jets had engaged PAF fighters over the LoC a day after IAF jets carried out airstrikes in Balakot.
