Army makes clear it won’t tolerate indiscipline
By moving yet another step towards court martialling as many as 168 personnel of the 226 Field Artillery Unit for wayward behaviour, the Indian Army has sent out a strong and much-needed message that indiscipline will simply not be tolerated. last May, that entire unit got into a brawl after an officer allegedly hauled up a sahayak who he believed had misbehaved with his wife. The officer was later reprimanded by his Commanding Officer who too came under his attack. This, in turn, mobilised the jawans against the officers leading to a free-for-all which left the unit CO, three majors and 10 jawans injured. The incident, which occurred at the Mahe field firing range near Nyoma in eastern ladakh, points to a complete collapse of command and control within the unit. This was made clear in the report filed by the Army's Court of Inquiry which recommended the sweeping court martial of the unit, and rightly so. It is important here to hold accountable every jawan and officer who behaved in blatant violation of their code of conduct. Cherry-picking offenders, in this case, would have only undermined the cause of justice. It would have also detracted from the issue of unit disorderliness, which was clearly the case in this incident. India's military is recognised the world over for being an organised, disciplined and highly professional armed force; and there is absolutely no scope here for even isolated instances such as these. By not shying away from meting out punishment, even when it meant doing so on such an unprecedented scale — never before has disciplinary action been initiated against so many personnel at the same time — the Army has proven its commitment to a policy of zero tolerance for disruptive behaviour. This is also evident in the manner in which the Army has been following up on other cases of officers and jawans, who have been accused of indiscipline, that have emerged in recent years.
For instance, only earlier this month the Court of Inquiry recommended punitive action against 60 personnel of the 16 Cavalry Unit who were involved in a face-off in Samba near Jammu last year. Similarly, the Commanding Officer, two other officers, eight junior commissioned officers and eight jawans of the 45 Cavalry based in Gurdaspur, Punjab who clashed with each other in May 2010 are now faced with disciplinary action. Even the 10 jawans of the 56th Armoured Regiment who refused to carry out what they called ‘menial tasks’ in Patiala last year have not been spared. They are now being court martialled while two officers and four JCOs face administrative action in this case as well. Clearly, the Army is determined to nip the problem in the bud. Critics of the Indian Army must take this into consideration before they cry hoarse about the supposedly rising levels of indiscipline or make unsubstantiated claims about how class differences are creating a rift between the jawans and the officers.