The silence of the generals is Deafening : Do they need to shout
One Veteran’s reaction to the shocking news of dastardly treatment melted out to a soldier who was pushed to death has been as under : –
1. It was shocking to read the news headlined, “Army jawan dies after being pushed under train by TTE in UP’s Bareilly.” The news has been filed by Mr Nakshab Khan in Mirror Now dated 25 Nov 2022. As per the news report Sonu Kumar Singh belonging to 24 RAJRIF (Rajputana Rifles) had an argument with the TTE (Travelling Ticket Examiner) while the soldier was trying to board Delhi-bound Rajdhani Express to reach Delhi, his place of posting. The TTE reportedly not only pushed the soldier out of the train but even hit on his hand thus making him fall out of the train. The sad event took place on 17 Nov 2022. The soldier had lost both his legs in the accident. He succumbed to his injuries on 25 Nov 2022 in the hospital.
2. The soldier was blessed with a son last month and he had come on leave for the “Namkaran Ceremony” of his newly born son. Now the son is an orphan and his young wife is a widow because a TTE showed no respect for the soldier of our country, a citizen of the country or even for a human being. The TTE has not been apprehended till now.
3. What is more shocking is the ‘complete silence of the lambs’, “the army generals”. If the deceased soldier would have been a policeman of Uttar Pradesh police the TTE would have certainly faced a fake encounter. Remember the infamous Vikas Dubey case where the person accused of firing at the police party was hounded and eliminated by the police within days. If the deceased would have been a political activist of any party his comrades would have brought the whole Railway System of thecountry to a standstill till the time the culprit was not only arrested but a substantial compensation and a government job was not offered to the family of the deceased. If the deceased would have been from a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) all the political leaders would have been making a beeline to his house to pay homage and share in the grief of the family. If he were a member of the minority community, the woke community would have been hogging the headlines in the media and social media and probably some foreign countries would have also issue a demarche to the Indian Government.
4. But alas, he was just a poor soldier of the Indian Army – ‘one of the children of lesser Gods’. The supreme commander of the armed forces probably has no time or will to even tweet a condolence message for him. The Raksha Mantri is probably busy in election campaign in Gujrat. The chief of the Army Staff is probably busy in his duties and has no time for such minor incidents and neither are the Generals bothered as they are more concerned about pleasing their masters or furthering their personal ambitions. The Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS) is more silent than Dr Manmohan Singh and probably he is also a puppet in the hands of powers that be.
5. In the olden days such an act of violence against the soldier on duty would have invited such severe repercussions for the culprit that no one would have dared to ill treat a soldier for a long long time. In the present case we are not even sure if a proper FIR has been lodged against the TTE
6. No wonder no one in the country cares for the silent Generals or their soldiers. It seems that all departments of the government feel pride in bringing down the soldiers or cut the Army to size. This is done gleefully so as to assert the civilian control over the Army. This control has now controlled the Army so much that it has become fragile, meek and tamed. It seems that the Army has even forgotten to bare its teeth what to talk of biting. The insults keep piling up and the Army keeps accepting the same without even a whimper.
7. Some recent ignominies piled on the Army include appointment of an IDSA Officer as Administrative member of AFT, non grant of NFU to soldiers, delay in implementation of OROP, sudden change in the system of disbursement of pensions which led to stoppage of pensions for some, appointment of a retired officer as CDS and the list of litanies goes on. Thousands of disabled soldiers are in the courts petitioning for their disability pensions and to seek redress to their grievances. But the state keeps filing appeals and even does not implement the orders of the courts granting relief to the disabled soldiers over filmy grounds.
8. But it is not these public snubs which hurt the serving and the retired soldiers but the narrative that is being built by some of the serving senior general officers that the political masters and the bureaucrats are against the forces. This far from the truth. The public at large, bureaucrats and the politicians respect the armed forces and are keen to help the rank and file but it is the Generals who have failed the forces by failing to raise their voice. No one stopped the Army to tweet in favour of the deceased soldier in the instant case. No one stopped the Adjutant General to walk to Railway Minister and complain about the misbehavior of the TTE in full media glare. The Central Army Commander is surely not so busy that he cannot meet the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh to request him to direct the state police to bring the culprit to justice at the earliest. Similarly the CDS could have advised the Raksha Mantri to raise the issue of misbehavior of the Railway staff with the Railway Minister.
9. Adam Goodes has famously remarked, “I’m not afraid of confrontation. It doesn’t have to be an argument. We all have a voice. And they are all worth listening to.” It is not a confrontation that the Generals should look for but they certainly have to raise the noise. In their eagerness to not rock the boat they have lost their voice. It is worth recalling here that soon after the country became independent, a proposal was sent to the COAS that the officers of the rank upto majors should have different class of travel concession than that of the other senior officers who were entitled to travel in first class. The then COAS had remarked on the file of the proposal that all defence officers belong to one class and hence there will be no change in their travel authorization based of the rank and that the issue will not to discussed further.
10. From that status to the present status of the Generals where their decisions are routinely over ruled by junior officers from finance department is a huge climb down. The findings of the Release Medical Boards (RMB) are routinely being over ruled by accounts departments in the ministry and the generals don’t take affront to the same.
11. It was in fact shocking to learn that the Controller of Defence Accounts has even stripped down the entitlements of the pension of the soldiers slyly. This has been clearly brought out by ‘Raksha Mantri’s Committee of experts on review of service and pension matters including potential disputes, minimizing litigation and strengthening institutional mechanisms related to redressal of grievances 2015’. DESW has overruled The Pension Regulations for the Army, 1961 and the Entitlement Rules, 1982 by issuing Pension Regulations 2008 and the Entitlement Rules, 2010 without seeking proper approval from the government for issue of the same. These revised rules and regulations have taken away some entitlements of the soldiers without any authority. What is even more disheartening is that the Army has not thrown out these regulations in the dustbin but has started following the same. Surprisingly, the Navy and the Air Force happily continue to enjoy the old entitlements.
12. “The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.” said Albert Einstein. In the same vein the Army will not be destroyed by the politicians or the bureaucrats but by the Generals who watch silently from the sidelines the destruction of the force of last resort of the nation.
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The Army was not sitting quietly but had initiated the following actions :
1. FIR lodged with GRP Bareilly at 1651h on 17th Nov 2022, day of accident. Charges placed initially – IPC Sec 307 and 326, changed to IPC sec 302 (Murder).
2. Court of Inquiry ordered by Stn HQ Bareilly, which is presently under progress by 346 Fd Regt stationed at Bareilly.
3. Statement of eye witness, Mr Deshraj recorded by GRP, Provost Unit and Court of inquiry. Local police and Distt Admin in touch at Bareilly.
4. TTE Mr Kuppam Boro had not been arrested as on 24 Nov. Four Parties out, two each to Delhi and Guwahati for apprehension as per GRP Bareilly.
5.The Col of the Regt had immediately spoken to the Adjutant General, to chase the issue on high priority with MoD/ Local Police/ Railway authorities.
6. Matter raised at highest levels with authorities concerned.
7.Raj Rif Regimental Centre has already contacted the family providing all support.
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What happened is simply not acceptable to the Armed Forces and should not be acceptable to the Nation also.
Now the moot question is that should the Concerned General Officer Area, Adjutant General or the VCOAS have spoken publicly to the Chairman Railway Board, the Raksha Mantri, the Home Minister and the Chief Minister of UP. The Army does not react publicly.
So there should be the required amendment to the Defence Services Regulations, the Indian Penal Code and the CrPC for statutory constitution of a Investigation team comprising Army, Civil Magistrate and Civil police member in all such type of cases. The team must submit the report to the Area Commander and the Chief Secretary of the concerned State within a laid down time frame for further prosecution.
