NEW DELHI – An Indian soldier is facing the wrath of his seniors for disobeying direct orders when he was called for an inquiry at an army base.
A leaked video, circulating on social media, shows a soldier being roughed by fellow personnel for mutinying over alleged corruption in Indian Army.
The soldier was reportedly called for an inquiry but he lost his cool and straight away disobeyed a command.
This is not the first time soldiers are seen revolting against harsh conditions and poor facilities they are subjected to while performing their duties.
Last year, soldiers of an infantry battalion posted in the sensitive north-eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh clashed with officers of the same unit following the death of their colleague. A captain was injured in the scuffle.
The incident occurred in an area that is in the far-eastern corner of the state and close to the ‘McMohan line’, the de-facto boundary between India and China.
In 2013, a boxing bout turned into a bare-knuckles street fight between officers and personnel of an infantry unit near Meerut. Two majors and a soldier were hospitalised.
The Meerut incident came a year after four soldiers of 226 Field Artillery Regiment, including the unit’s commanding officer and his deputy, were injured in a brawl between officers and soldiers in Ladakh’s Nyoma sector. A soldier had misbehaved with the wife of a major, triggering the face-off.
Another army unit, 16 Cavalry, witnessed an officer-soldier spat in 2012, leading to disciplinary action against 60 personnel. In April 2010, there was a clash between officers and personnel of 45 Cavalry near Gurdaspur.
In past few months, various videos of the Indian Army have come up from within, showing the corruption and unjust behaviour of Indian officers.
Several soldiers claimed on social media that they had to do household chores for their superiors, including cooking, taking care of their children, washing clothes, and even taking their dogs outside.
One of these soldiers, Tej Bahadur from the Border Security Force (BSF), mentioned the poor quality of food that is being served. In his video, he also noted that he feared the repercussions he might face for publicly voicing his concerns. After the video went viral on social media and was covered by the media, he was shifted to a different unit in BSF.
Bahadur’s was the first video to surface. Afterwards, three more soldiers came out with their own videos.
Another soldier, Yagya Pratap, made a video saying that when he wrote letters to the president and prime minister’s office regarding the exploitation of Indian soldiers by senior officials, his superiors retaliated. Pratap went on to reveal that he was pressured, abused, and mentally tortured to such an extent that he thought of committing suicide at one stage.
Another soldier, Jeet Singh from Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), in his video talked about the disparities between the facilities given to soldiers of the Indian Army and CRPF.
Army soldiers are given pensions and enjoy quotas for post-military jobs; soldiers from CRPF do not receive either of these benefits. Nor do the CRPF enlistees have access to the Army canteen or good medical services.
Another issue raised by these videos is corruption among army officials. Another soldier, Naik Bhgat, said that out of the menu for food allotted to his unit, only 40 percent reaches them. No one knows what happens to the rest of the menu.
He also revealed that jawans are not given a vehicle to drop them off when they go on leave. On the contrary, lieutenants, majors, and senior officers are not only given a car but also a luggage-handler.
