Indian army’s shame: Indictment of 4 Indian peacekeepers for ‘sexual misconduct’ on a UN posting in Congo dents the army’s honour

Gautam Datt.

Allegations of sexual misconduct by Indian peacekeepers in Congo four years ago have been found to be true in at least one case, bringing disrepute to the Indian Army.

Complaints about Indian troopers fathering children in Congo were forwarded by the United Nations to the army headquarters.

A court of inquiry concluded in Meerut recently has found enough ground for disciplinary action against a jawan. It is learnt that his DNA sample matched with one of the children born to a Congolese woman.

Three other army men, including a major, have been charged with control and command failure and administrative action has been recommended against them.

Though the complete report of the probe is yet to be declared, its conclusion, shared by the army authorities, points to the fact that other accused officers and jawans have been given a clean chit.

An entire battalion of the Sikh regiment was under the scanner following the startling revelations about sexual misconduct by four women. The allegations gained ground after children with distinct Indian features were delivered by the women.

India takes pride in the fact that it is one of the biggest contributors to the UN peacekeeping missions, but its participation in Congo has remained controversial with reports of misconduct surfacing from time to time.

The army’s internal mechanism is such that any breach of discipline does not go unpunished. In this case, too, a court of inquiry was promptly ordered which looked into the conduct of 12 officers and 39 jawans.

The court collected the DNA samples of all the officers and jawans to ascertain the veracity of the complaints. As it turned out, one of the DNA samples matched with a child in Congo.

The Congo sex scandal has also been in news because of the name of current army chief General Bikram Singh being dragged into the controversy.

General Singh was the deputy force commander in Congo when the incidents of sexual misconduct allegedly took place.

The government, however, gave him a clean chit and cleared his appointment to the top post in the army, replacing General V.K. Singh whose tenure was mired in controversy over his date of birth.

Until the findings of the court of inquiry are shared, it would be difficult to establish the extent of the “misconduct” as the victims are in Congo. Also, it remains to be seen if all the children born out of such encounters have been taken into account.

The findings of the court of inquiry would be approved by the army headquarters, after which the punishment of the guilty will be pronounced.

One of the victims had claimed that the Indian Army personnel used to meet her in a hotel in Goma. The army man would give her gifts and also pay money. Most of the victims are said to be from extremely poor families.

-via India Today.

Judgment reserved in fake encounter case against Army Chief

Gen Bikram Singh

The J&K High Court has reserved judgment on a petition seeking directions for reinvestigation into Janglat Mandi “fake” encounter case allegedly involving Army Chief Bikram Singh.

A bench of Justice Hasnain Massodi reserved the judgment after hearing the arguments of the counsels representing the parties.

Zaituna, a resident of Kalaroos in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district, had filed the petition before the High Court last year through her counsel ZA Qureshi seeking reinvestigation of the case on the plea that the alleged militant who was killed in the encounter was her son Abdullah Bhat who was not involved in militancy.

The petitioner has also sought directions to the police to identify the grave where the body of the “foreign militant” that forces claimed to have killed is lying so that DNA test of the body could be conducted to ascertain its lineage.

Counsels representing the Union of India however argued that the encounter was not fake, saying that the sole aim of the petitioners is to “malign the forces.”

They said the petitioners have not approached any law enforcing authority to get investigation done for 10 years. They argued that Lt Gen Singh, who was then a Brigadier commanding the 1-Sector Rashtriya Rifles in south Kashmir, was returning to Anantnag after visiting various army units.

“When the army convoy stopped at Janglat Mandi, a militant disguised as a beggar and opened indiscriminate fire upon the army men, which triggered an encounter,” they argued.

While Colonel JP Janu and Rifleman Ganesh Kumar were killed, Gen Singh and another officer were injured in the attack. The assailant and two civilians were also killed in the incident.

Counsel for the petitioner argued before the court that the contention of the respondents that the case cannot be reopened after 10 years is “out of sync with the provisions of law as time bar cannot deprive the family of right of reopening the case.” He referred to various SC judgments in support of his contention.

Qureshi argued that police and the state are projecting the case in a different way by giving it the twist that the encounter was not fake.

“But our contention with regard to the fake encounter is clear: if you kill A, you cannot brand him as B,” he argued.

He told the court if the respondents are sincere they should come before the court with a photograph of the deceased militant and ask her mother if the photograph displayed is that of her son.

The Union of India was represented by JS Johal with Karnail Singh Wazir.

-via GreaterKashmir

Army chief, top generals wasted crores, shows defence ministry audit

Gen Bikram Singh

Sudhi Ranjan Sen.

Army chief General Bikram Singh, his predecessor General VK Singh and other top generals wasted over Rs. 100 crore of public money in just two years, an internal audit of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has revealed.

Defence Minister AK Antony, taking a grim view of the profligacy, has come down hard and has ordered that spending of the commanders must now be cleared by the MoD.

Not just has the money been wasted, but the audit also finds that guidelines to buy foreign equipment have repeatedly been disregarded, and equipment rejected by one part of the Army has been bought by another.

In one example that goes beyond just the wastage of money, the auditor points to Chinese-origin communications equipment which was bought by the Generals, when they were commanders-in-charge of their regions, armed with special financial powers to make emergency purchases. In this case, the auditor found that even the Chinese-origin equipment was bought from agents rather than directly from the manufacturer as required, and despite the fact that similar Indian equipment would have been cheaper.

“There is an apprehension that the stores have actually been purchased from the grey market and perhaps are of Chinese origin,” the report says.

Chinese-made communication equipment has been found to be embedded with malignant software. In a few cases detected in the past, it was found that Chinese and other foreign security agencies were exploiting these chinks in critical equipment to gather secret information.

The Military Intelligence (MI) and the Director General of Information Services have issued exhaustive guidelines on equipment purchase and checks. The audit, however, found these have been completely violated. “This would be a major security risk apart from being a serious financial irregularity,” the auditors observe.

Gen VK Singh

The auditors also found that despite clear guidelines to source directly from manufacturers, most foreign-origin equipment have been purchased from Indian agents. In some cases, middlemen were used even though the original equipment manufacturer was present in India.

The report points out that High Resolution Binoculars were purchased by the Eastern Command at higher cost from an Indian agent when the original manufacturer was selling the same equipment at a lower cost.

In yet another major lapse, the auditors say that while the Army Headquarters rejected a certain make of bullet-proof jackets for troops because they were of a low quality, the same were purchased by the Northern Command.

The Comptroller of Defence Accounts (CDA), under instructions from Mr Antony, carried out an audit of Special Financial Powers of the Army Commanders for two years – 2009-10 and 2010-2011 – and just looked at 55 transactions across six of the seven commands of the Indian Army. The audit report observes the total estimated losses were to the tune of Rs. 103.11 crore. 55 transactions were sampled during the audit and in most cases, the auditors weren’t able to establish the amount of loss due to the manner in which financial records were kept, and the lack of complete information made available, the report has said. It suggests that future audits should try to quantify the loss.

Perhaps, most worrying is the fact that “none of the Army commanders have furnished complete data” of the purchases made by them to the auditors. The auditors noted that purchases took over a year to reach the Army and in some cases, the delivery took as long as three years. The report says that “the delay in utilisation” suggests that “operational urgency for which stores” were acquired “could not either be addressed or there was no real operational urgency for the purchase of stores.” The report also observed that although auditors are posted in the commands, they are intimidated by military officers in command, who are also their reviewing officers.

The auditors have told the ministry that there is need for complete audit of all purchases made using the special financial powers of the Army Commanders, and have also suggested that “it would not be advisable to consider any proposal for enhancing the existing delegated (financial) powers. Whole system of delegated powers available to the Army Commanders needs to be reviewed.”

-via NDTV

Army forcing us to withdraw case against Gen Bikram Singh: NGO

Gen Bikram Singh

Harinder Baweja.

The army has been accused of putting pressure on the civil society in Kashmir to withdraw a PIL against its chief, General Bikram Singh.

YES Kashmir, an NGO, had approached the Jammu and Kashmir high court in October last year to raise the issue of an encounter that occurred in Janglat Mandi, Anantnag, in March 2001.

In the clash, Singh — then a brigadier posted in the Valley — suffered gunshot wounds while two army officials lost their lives.

According to the police, an alleged militant dressed as a beggar had approached Singh and opened fire. In the battle that ensued, the militant was killed.

The PIL, however, questions the police theory. A family had come forward in October 2011, claiming that it was their son Abdullah Bhat, an innocent bystander, who had been killed.

The timing of the PIL was questioned in military circles, with many seeing it as an attempt to narrow down Singh’s chances of becoming the army chief.

Soon after Singh took over as the chief of army staff, NGO head Khurshid Ahmed Mir approached the court once again and — in a sworn affidavit — claimed that the force was pressurising him.

Mir has now alleged in the affidavit that “officers of Sector–1 RR are pressurising me to help them withdraw the case by influencing relatives and the counsel for the petitioners… Since the case has turned out to be a high-profile one, I feel insecure in the hands of the army. They are repeatedly putting pressure on me, and can harm me and my family.”

The police had then closed the case, saying the beggar was actually Mateen Chacha — a Pakistan-trained Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist.

They are now refusing to produce a photograph of the ‘beggar’ or identify his grave, demands that the family has made through the PIL.

The board of officers inquiring into the funding of the controversial intelligence unit, constituted by former army chief Gen VK Singh, is now probing possible links between the ‘snoop unit’ and the NGO.

The inquiry notwithstanding, the petition can be embarrassing for the chief as well as the government, particularly if the court orders an investigation into the ‘fake encounter.’ The army declined to comment on the grounds that the inquiry was still on.

-via Hindustan Times.

The English have gone, the mindset remains

Gen Bikram Singh

Sunil Bassi.

This refers to the statement made by Army Chief General Bikram Singh in which he said, “We will provide all help to Olympian Vijay Kumar to become an officer. He is very capable, he talks in English.”

Though General Singh may have made the statement casually, the remark reflects the mindset of not just the Army Chief but also the Armed Force’s definite ‘language bias’. It seems English is the major criterion in the selection of officers. Can those who study in non-English medium get through NDA/CDS examinations? If yes, then I suppose that 90 per cent of the effort at the training colleges must be going to teach them English than making them skilled Armed Forces personnel.

The statement made me feel as though the Indian Army is controlling the Hindustani Fauj. This may perhaps be one of the reasons why we see lot more confrontations these days between officers and jawans.

-via The Pioneer

Lt Gen Suhag’s promotion ‘unjust’: Ex-Navy Chief

Lt Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag

Ajmer Singh.

Former Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral L Ramdas has fired a fresh salvo against Army Chief General Bikram Singh. In a complaint made on June 19 this year to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, he has alleged that Gen Singh by promoting 3 Corps commander Lt Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag to the position of an Army Commander has strengthened the notion of “line of succession” and also failed to demonstrate his impartiality.

Gen Singh, after taking over as the Army Chief in June this year, had overturned the decision of his predecessor and lifted the Discipline and Vigilance (D&V) ban on Lt Gen Suhag, who may head the Army in 2014.

The former Naval Chief has also requested the Prime Minister to appoint an independent three-member commission to conduct a probe into recent developments concerning the Army, including allegations of corruption made against senior Army officials and irregularities in the defence equipment procurement process, to check deeper malaise within the system.

Admiral Ramdas told The Indian Express that the Prime Minister’s Office has forwarded his complaint to the Ministry of Defence for “appropriate action”.

The signatories to the complaint include former civil servant M G Devashyam, former CEC N Gopalswami, Lt Gen P C Katoch (retd), Lt Gen O S Lochab (retd) journalist Sam Rajappa and Maj Gen Ashok Kalyan Verma (retd).

Citing low morale in the armed forces, Admiral Ramdas said, “There is a widespread perception that while the rank and file are subjected to severe disciplinary action for even minor offence, those on high posts with the right connections can get away with anything. Not only is this reflected in the most recent appointments to the highest offices within the Army, but also, and more seriously, has led to the disturbing view, circulating at many levels, that it is not worth fighting for a country that is in the grip of corrupt and conniving characters.”

Ramdas and other eminent personalities had recently moved the Supreme Court against the appointment of Lt Gen Bikram Singh as the next Chief of the Army staff.

The petitioners had questioned his ability to command 1.3 million strong Army, citing his alleged involvement in a fake encounter and UN peace keeping operations in Congo. The apex court had, however, dismissed the PIL, prompting petitioners to file a review plea in the SC, on the basis that the government had misrepresented and suppressed facts.

Admiral Ramdas, in his complaint, has also criticised former Army Chief Gen J J Singh for his “unfortunate TV interview”.

There is a “deeper malaise within the system — indicating years of brushing uncomfortable questions under the carpet. Within the Army, matters came to a head with the initiation of a so called ‘line of succession’ in 2006, which in turn seems to have triggered the needless controversy over the date of birth of one COAS, in order to install another as COAS in 2012”.

However, Gen J J Singh has denied all allegations about the line of succession.

-via Indian Express.

Another army chief, another controversy

Gen Bikram Singh

A group of retired army officers along with civilians has filed a petition in the Supreme Court (SC)contending that Lt General Bikram Singh should not be made the army chief in view of his role in Congo and a pending case against him in the J&K high court regarding fake encounter. Speak Up brings you opinions of citizens.

We don’t need a tainted army chief

The court should take the same course of action as it took in the case of central vigilance commissioner (CVC) PJ Thomas’s appointment and then cancelling it. If Lt General Bikram Singh’s appointment as army chief breaches the norms then it should be cancelled immediately. The court cannot have different norms for two similar cases. In the army, the buck stops with the one who is on the top, the commander. If the allegations are true and irregularities did happen when Lt General Singh was in charge of the troops in Congo, then the country does not need a tainted army chief.

Major General (retd) SCN Jatar

Take action against senior army officers embroiled in scams

If the allegations are true, then it is mind boggling. It makes people wonder where our country is heading to. The government must wake up and the ministry of defence must look into this matter. Appointment of Lt General Bikram Singh as the army chief must be withheld immediately because the allegations made are serious and should be investigated first.

For example, if an army jawan makes a small mistake while saluting, such as his hands are not straight, he is sent to the quarter guard and rigorously imprisoned for 28 days in an inherent army jail along with one hour morning and evening physical punishment. However, here we have senior army officers who are embroiled in scams and still no action is taken against them.

Since last five years, army officers have been in news for being allegedly involved in various scams. Our country was once upon a time known to have the best army in the world. The soldiers who are guarding our country’s borders feel demoralised to see their seniors in news for all the wrong reasons.

Lt Col (retd) Suresh Patil, founder president, Maaji Sainik Bhrashtachar Virodhi Manch

Withhold Singh’s promotion till he gets a clean chit

The allegations made against Lt General Bikram Singh calls for a proper investigation before appointing him as the chief of the Indian Army. The government must withhold the promotion till General Singh is not given a clean chit. It will be embarrassing for the new army chief, government and ministry of defence if the Supreme Court accepts the petition. This is the second petition filed and it is still not known whether the court has accepted the petition or not.

Bhai Vaidya, Socialist Leader

I will be surprised if top court reviews the plea

The application seeking review on the public interest litigation (PIL) will meet the same fate as the previous one as no judge is going to accept that dismissing the petition in the first place was wrong. I had seen this happen when I had approached the Supreme Court previously for a different case. In this particular case, since the high and mighty are involved, I will be surprised if the court decides to review the petition and even take any action.

Cdr (Retd) Ravindra Pathak, IN, Member Governing Body and Pension Cell IESM

-via DNA.

Congo gate: Will Lt Gen Bikram Singh’s past get the better of his future?

After a long episode of controversies, the Indian Army Chief Gen VK Singh is ready to pass his responsibilities to Lt Gen Bikram Singh. With Gen VK Singh’s exit, the Indian Army will definitely want to stay out of controversies for at least some time now. But, the question arises whether the new Army Chief is worthy of the position or not.

In 2007, Indian soldiers, as part of the UN peacekeeping force, were accused of smuggling gold and drugs, selling weapons to the enemy and sexual misconduct in Congo. The most important thing to consider is the fact that the man in charge was none other than Lt Gen Bikram Singh, set to be the next Army Chief.

Lt Gen Bikram Singh was a major general when he took charge of the Indian troops in Congo from Brigadier Satya Narayan in August 2007 as the divisional commander and the deputy force commander. Despite a UN investigation report indicted the Indian soldiers, Lt Gen Bikram Singh did not take any action.

The Indian government, rather than taking action, chose to gloss over the UN report while announcing his name as the next Army Chief. The government also ignored an alleged fake encounter case involving him in the J&K High Court.

A group of senior retired army officers alongside Civil Society members, on Tuesday, sought a review of the Supreme Court’s April order quashing a petition against Lt Gen Singh’s elevation to the Chief of Army Staff. They contended that he should not be made the Army Chief in view of his role in Congo and the pending case in the J&K High Court.

According to the investigation division of the UN’s Office of Internal Oversight Services(OIOS), substantial evidence was found to support at least six of the 44 charges against the Indian troops. A copy of the UN investigation report has been obtained by the daily newspaper DNA. The Defence Ministry spokesperson did not respond to a detailed questionnaire sent by DNA in relation to the report.

The report reveals that the Indian soldiers dealt in cannabis with rebel leaders they were supposed to monitor or even attack if required. They also sold UN ration meant for the poor to the rebels and exchanged ammunition for ivory, report claims.

According to the report, weapons found with rebels on Oct 1, 2007 were identical to those used by the Indian troops. The Indian troops also maintained sexual relations with the rebels that is strictly banned by the UN in a conflict zone.

The UN investigators also found that the Indian troops had leaked sensitive operational information to certain rebel groups. The report highlights that Indian troops had used Indian military aircraft to illegally export minerals from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Indian government tried to hush-up the matter when the OIOS shared its strictly confidential details with the government-nominated officials. A sexual misconduct report stating that children with distinct Indian features were found near areas where Indian troops were posted, had pressurized the government again.

Selling weapons to the enemy, smuggling gold and drugs happened during the tenure of Brigadier Satya Narayan. But Lt Gen Bikram Singh was in charge when the OIOS filed its report, making his tenure more controversial since his men were accused of sexual misconduct.

-via Daily Bhaskar

Major alleges fake encounter of 3 ‘terrorists’ by Army

Gen Bikram Singh

Gaurav Sawant.

General Bikram Singh, who took charge as the new Army chief, might face some uncomfortable questions that have emerged after an explosive letter, written by a serving officer of the 3 Corps Intelligence and Surveillance Unit, stationed in Dimapur district of Nagaland, has surfaced.

Headlines Today accessed the confidential letter written by Major T. Ravi Kumar to the army’s Eastern Commander, Gen Bikram Singh, who took over as the new Army chief from General V.K. Singh on Thursday.

In his letter addressed to Lt Gen Singh on January 12, 2012, the major has alleged cold-blooded triple murder by a unit under the command of Col G. Srikumar. The letter says that three people were picked up by Major Nector and Lt Rubina Kaur Keer after an operation in Dimapur. It suggests that the suspected terrorists were brought to the unit’s officers’ mess and killed.

The letter speaks of the recovery of three decomposed, unidentified bodies from the Assam-Nagaland border in Dimapur shortly thereafter.

The major states that the incident occurred between March 15 and 19, 2010, saying it needed to be investigated thoroughly.

However, no action despite the letter raises question why did the Eastern Command not follow up the complaint. Did the army try to cover up the incident by keeping mum?

Ironically, copies of the letter were also sent to the 3 Corps commander, Lt Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag, and Gen V.K. Singh.

Army ignores queries

On May 29, Headlines Today sent an email to the ADG, Public Information, Army Headquarters posing five questions. However, despite following it up, Headlines Today was yet to receive an official reply from the army.

The questions raised by Headlines Today were – (1) was a court of inquiry ordered into the alleged fake encounter of three individuals at Dimapur (2) was a written complaint made by Major Kiran to the commander of eastern command (3) did the chief of staff eastern command seek a report from the 3 Corps headquarters by February 15, 2012 (4) did the 3 Corps headquarters conduct an inquiry and if so what was the response and (5) were the same officers/unit involved in the alleged botched intelligence operations of Jorhat.

Reacting to the revelations made in the major’s letter, defence expert Major General (retired) Ashok Mehta said, “It indicates two things. One that fake encounters are prevalent elsewhere not just Jammu and Kashmir. Second the unhealthy precedent of letters being leaked. If they can leak these letters what stops them from leaking secrets.”

The incident

Major Kiran says that he had heard gunshots behind the officer’s mess days before local newspapers reported that three unidentified bodies were recovered near Dimapur. According to him, he was called for dinner by then G1(Int) Lt Col R.V.R. Perumal. After dinner, when Lt Col Perumal came to drop Major Kiran at the officer’s mess, he saw many people running around posing as a Quick Reaction Team.

Major Kiran says that there were just two jawans present in the officer’s mess at the time and the rest were taken away from there. The officer then went to his room and according to him he heard some sounds similar to gunshots from behind the mess.

Hearing the gunshots, Major Kiran went to the officer commanding Dimapur, Colonel Kulbir. He asked the officer about the sounds. Apparently, Col Kulbir had also heard the gunshots.

Rogue unit?

The letter puts a troubling question whether the Dimapur based 3 Corps Intelligence and Surveillance Unit is a rogue unit in reality. This is the same unit that was involved in a botched operation in southern Assam about six months ago. The recent operation in fact is the subject of a show cause notice that the outgoing army chief sent to the 3 Corps commander just a week ago.

Lt Gen Suhag, who commands the 3 Corps, was issued the show cause notice by the army chief asking him to explain the delay in due process following the botched intelligence operation against a military contractor in Jorhat.

The intelligence operation under Captain Rubina Kaur Keer in Jorhat was conducted on December 20, 2011. A pistol and a mobile phone were stolen during the operation and these things were later recovered from the unit.

Allegations have been made that more items were stolen during the search operation. The operation itself did not follow established norms.

-via India Today.

‘Cabinet file on clean-chit to next Army chief doctored’

General Bikram Singh

The appointment of next Army chief Lt Gen Bikram Singh, due to take over from General VK Singh on Thursday, has been dragged into fresh controversy.

The Supreme Court had last month dismissed a PIL against the Army chief designate after being told by the Centre that the Appointment Committee of Cabinet (ACC) had considered all charges against him. In a new twist, the original petitioners, led by eminent citizens Admiral L Ramdas, former CEC N Gopalaswami among others, have made a sensational claim that the file shown to Court was “doctored”.

The petitioners, seeking review of the Supreme Court’s earlier order passed on their PIL on April 23, have alleged that the Centre played a fraud on the Court by showing the file with several “interpolations”.

The review petition filed on Tuesday in the SC said, “The petitioners strongly believe that the original ACC file produced in the Supreme Court was doctored and the suspicion is further strengthened by the presence of page ’15A’ in the file…when the same should normally have been in running numbers.”

Another factor linked to this suspicion was the timing of the grant of clearance to Lt Gen Bikram Singh by the Intelligence Bureau, also placed in the file.

The allegation against Singh was two-fold. One related to his deputation as Deputy Force Commander in Congo as part of the UN Peacekeeping Mission in 2008. An Army Court of Inquiry (CoI) found that soldiers under Singh’s command were guilty of sexual misconduct. The other charge against him related to his alleged involvement in a fake encounter case of 2001 in Jammu and Kashmir while being posted as Commanding Officer of First Sector, Rashtriya Rifles. This issue is currently pending before Jammu and Kashmir High Court.

The review petition further raised questions on how the ACC file on March 3 this year exhibited an affidavit submitted before the J&K High Court by Ministry of Defence (MoD) on March 23. The petition contended if “institutional integrity” alone was the criteria to disqualify former CVC PJ Thomas who had a criminal trial pending against him, applying similar standards here would disqualify Singh, who was yet to be given a clean chit by the High Court.

With regard to his role at Congo, the petitioners pointed out that on April 13 the MoD sent a query to Army Headquarter seeking clarification on the role and responsibility played by Singh as Deputy Force Commander at Congo operations. However, the notification of his appointment was considered and cleared by the ACC on March 3, over a month prior to sending of the query.

To testify the strength of the Centre’s claim, the petitioners even sought a copy of the documents contained in the ACC file, but the same was denied to them under the Right to Information Act.

The review petition also challenged the claim of the Government to declare Singh an international civil servant during the Congo deputation. It attached opinions of retired Army officers to suggest that the assignment was purely military in nature and that Singh could enjoy no immunity for actions by soldiers under his command, thus attracting action against him under the relevant military and international laws.

-via The Pioneer.