Navy accused of harassing Goa fishermen, CM to probe

Chief minister Manohar Parrikar will personally visit a fishing beach village to probe allegations by fishermen of harassment by naval officers, he told the Goa assembly Friday. Parrikar’s assurance of a personal inspection follows a calling attention motion tabled by Congress legislator from Dabolim, Mauvin Godinho.

The legislator said that traditional fishing families along the Vaddem beach, near the port town of Vasco, 35 kms from here, were being threatened by naval authorities against fishing in the waters off the beach.

“The fishermen are being threatened by gun point by the naval authorities. They are not even allowed to stand on the beach,” Godinho said.

“What are these traditional families going to do for a living if they are not allowed to fish?” the legislator asked.

Godinho was referring to a continuous conflict between the traditional fishermen and personnel from the naval base INS Gomantak, who have been accused of bullying fishermen, who use canoes for fishing.

“Let’s visit the village ourselves and see what can be done about the plight of the fishermen,” Parrikar told the House.

via Hindustan Times.

JCO’s family getting threats to withdraw case against army officers

The family members of a junior commissioned officer (JCO) of 14 Rajputana Rifles, who died under mysterious circumstances at a military hospital in New Delhi on July 5, said they were getting life threats from anonymous callers seeking withdrawal of the case against a few officers.

On Sunday, Pushpendra Singh Shekhawat, youngest son of Rajendra Singh Shekhawat, a Subedar Major of 14 Rajputana Rifles, who suffered a paralytic attack and died at a hospital in New Delhi, lodged a case of mental harassment against the callers.

“Earlier we had lodged a police complaint at Sadar police station of Delhi Cantt in which we had accused commanding officer, Col Mohit Saxena of torturing our father. We had also complained of officers of higher ranks of murder and criminal conspiracy,” said Pushpendra, talking to TOI on Sunday.

However, in the last fortnight, the family got several calls from unknown persons who wanted the family to withdraw the case against the army officers.

“A man identified as Ramesh Bhaskar, who introduced himself as a clerk at South Western Command asked us to give a photocopy of the documents relating to the FIR we had lodged. When we asked him to show any authorization letter and his identity card, he failed to show us. Thus, following these suspicious activities, we had lodged a case at Jhotwara police station,” Shekhawat said.

Jhotwara police said that they have lodged a case and initiated a probe into the matter.

Subedar Major Rajendra Shekhawat had suffered a paralytic attack in his unit on July 3 and died during treatment at Army hospital in Delhi. Shekhawat’s family alleged that officials kept avoiding a postmortem of the body.

-via The Times of India.

‘Harassed’ Army jawan climbs 200-feet mobile tower in Delhi, refuses to come down

Adamant on his demand to speak to Defence Minister A.K. Antony, an Army jawan who climbed a 200-feet high mobile tower in New Delhi alleging harassment by his officers refused to come down for the second day on Saturday.

K. Muthu, who is attached with Engineers Regiment, climbed the tower at Ajmeri Gate at around 1 pm on Friday and refused to come down till late night despite appeals by police and officers of Army, a senior police official said.

The 35-year-old sepoy in Army said over phone, “I want to meet the defence minister. I will come down only if I’m allowed to meet the minister.”

Colleagues from his unit are taking turns to be with him atop the tower and trying to convince him.

Hailing from Tuticorin district of Tamil Nadu, Muthu has alleged he was transferred five times in five years.

He said, “This is not a problem faced by me alone. I’m presenting the problems faced by many jawans in Army.”

On Friday, he had thrown a bunch of papers and in one of the letters, he demanded his discharge from service due to alleged harassment by officers. In the letter, he has also requested the commanding officer to get his salary of the last eight months cleared.

-via India Today.

Denied flats, top armymen are targeting us: Adarsh society

Urvi Mahajani.

Terming the ministry of defence’s (MoD’s) notice claiming ownership of land where the 31-storey Adarsh housing society stands as “illegal and bad in law”, the society has alleged it is being targeted by high-ranking army officers who were not granted membership.

“The ministry has issued a notice now just to harass the society and with an ulterior motive to stake claim on the ownership of the property. Some high-ranking officers of the ministry want to settle scores with the members of Adarsh society as they could not get membership,” the society said through its advocate Manish Desai of Vidhi Partners, on Thursday.

The society was responding a notice sent by the MoD on May 28 to the state government and Adarsh society asking them to hand over possession of the land where the building stands. The MoD had also sought that the state acknowledge its title and ownership of the plot within two months. The government has still not replied to the notice.

In its reply, the society claimed it had been allotted land by the government as per the law. It also alleged that the MoD had issued a notice as an afterthought and with mala fide intentions to defame its members.

Several defence personnel have appeared before the judicial commission and produced documentary evidence in relation to the title of the land.

It was after going through the evidence and the MoD counsel’s arguments that the inquiry commission probing the Adarsh scam concluded that the land belongs to the state government and not the ministry, added the reply.

Also, the notice was “bad in law” as it has been sent by the general officer commanding of Maharashtra, Goa and Gujarat, who is not a competent authority. Only the defence estates office of the MoD has powers to send such a notice. The reply reads, “The notice has been sent without power and without sanction from the MoD.”

The society also said only the Supreme Court has jurisdiction to decide on suit of title of the land. The MoD said if it was not given possession of the land in two months, it would file a civil title suit in the high court.

-via DNA.

Adarsh scam whistleblower accuses Lt Gen Tejinder Singh of harassment

Lt Gen (R) Tejinder Singh

Lieutenant-General (retired) Tejinder Singh , accused of trying to bribe Army chief General V.K. Singh, has now been accused of harassment by Major (retired) S.K. Lamba, a whistleblower in the Adarsh Housing Society scam .

Lamba said that between 2005 and 2007, Tejinder – the then Major-General and General Officer Commanding for Maharashtra and Goa – implicated him in false criminal cases to dissuade him from delving deeper into the Adarsh scam, for which the retired Major has filed countless RTI applications since 2005. Late in 2010, it emerged that Tejinder Singh also had an apartment in the tainted society.

Lamba said he held the Lt-Gen. in high regard and confided in him about the Adarsh findings, persuading him to take up the matter, “That is when the problem started,” the retired Major said. He alleged that in February 2006, six Army jawans detained him while he was feeding medicines to stray dogs at the United Services Club at Colaba on the supposed orders of Colonel R.K. Sharma (then military police chief). The jawans lodged a complaint with the Colaba police station, accusing Lamba of misbehaving with them. Two days later, they filed another FIR, accusing Lamba of rash driving.

Singh, the then chairman of the club, also suspended Lamba’s membership for six months.

-via India Today.

Army puts ‘no parking’ boards in Pune

After the Royal Western India Turf Club (RWITC) withdrew its petition in the Bombay high court involving race course land, the army has put up ‘no parking’ sign boards along the lanes on its periphery.

While the army maintained that the boards have been put for security concerns of the Pune cantonment area, the club members allege that it is a move to harass them.

“The ‘no parking boards’ have been placed by the Local Military Authorities (LMA), Pune in areas adjoining the military establishments and residential areas keeping in view the security concerns and for maintaining the integrity of the Pune Cantonment,” a PRO official of Defence Southern Command told DNA.

RWITC chairman Vivek Jain says, “Talks are on with the army authorities to find a solution to relax these curbs as they are posing problems to the club members.”

“The boards were suddenly put up after 5 pm on Tuesday. This has caused problems as the club has limited parking inside, and we have been using the area outside the club for years,” said Mukund Seth, a member of the club.

“This is outrageous. The army has no authority to stop parking on civilian roads,” Anil Pardeshi, a regular member of the club told DNA.

-via DNA.

Pune residents allege harassment by army personnel

Pic/Krunal Gosavi

Adnan Attarwala.

Residents of Victoria and Alexandra roads say Southern Command personnel demand address proof and harass them.

Residents and morning walkers at Victoria Road and Alexandra Road near Ghorpuri are alleging harassment by army jawans of the Southern Command. They claim that the men in uniform have been prohibiting them from walking on the public road and are carrying out random inspections at the behest of the Military Engineer Services (MES) office.

Whose road is it anyway? A walking plaza board installed by the military at Victoria Road, where residents claim they are not allowed to enter with vehicles from 6.30 am to 8 am and 5.30 pm to 7 pm.

They claim that the jawans posted in the areas near Bogra Park and Empress Garden ask them for residence proof and passes and even stop their vehicles. The area has been turned into a walking plaza, and Southern Command they say has put up boards and signs mentioning the area as A-1 roads, which signifies it as a military area.

“The military has put up boards calling the streets as walking plaza and they don’t allow vehicles to enter the area. I have been operated upon my knees and the guards at times stop my doctor’s vehicle at the entrance and make him walk all the way to my house. What if there is an emergency? This is harassment,” said Maheshwari Devi, wife of actor Kulbulshan Kharbanda, who owns a bungalow in the area since 1952.

She added that at times her servants and gardener have been subjected to questioning and are treated suspiciously. The residents numbering around 25, who are mainly senior citizens, have been residing in the area for over 50 years.

“There are many senior citizens in the area and even they are not respected and are allowed to enter their bungalows only after much pleading. The road belongs to the public since the past 50 years. Till date, nowhere else are morning walkers being asked for passes. The military it seems, simply wants to usurp the land and drive us all out,” another resident and senior lawyer, who has been using the road for morning walks since 1967 said.

The walking plaza hours are between 6 and 8 in the morning and in the evening, where no vehicles are being allowed to enter.

When Southern Command office was contacted, a senior official said on condition of anonymity that the army has made some entry points at MES road walking plazas for the citizens themselves, debarring the entry of heavy vehicles.

“There had been a chain snatching incident few days ago and that’s why the inspection could have been carried out. Otherwise, there has never been any harassment on the army’s part. We don’t allow the entry of vehicles only for two hours each in morning and evening, which is for the residents’ own good. But if residents have any problem with that, they should approach the Cantonment Board,” the official said.

-via Mid Day

Army asked not to harass civilians

Based on a complaint from GHMC mayor Majid Hussain, Hyderabad district collector N. Gulzar has asked the Army authorities to stop harassing civilians residing in the First Lancer and Golconda residential areas.

The collector shot off a letter to Col. S. Kumar, Andhra Sub Area, Secunderabad, urging him to issue instructions to the field level officers to avoid harassment of civilians as brought to his notice by the mayor, local MLAs and the MP.

The mayor was taking up cudgels in defence of his neighbours in Ahmednagar colony. Army officers had threatened to demolish their buildings as they had begun construction within 500 metres of defence property, which is prohibited as per GO No 86.

“First Lancer is an old colony. Almost all the houses are more than 50 years old and most of them are located within the prohibited zone. If replacement of dilapidated structures with new ones is not allowed, where will the families go?” the mayor explained.

The district collector in his letter to Col. Kumar stated that it may not be practical to enforce GO 86 in full as First Lancer and Golconda areas are thickly inhabited and slums and other residences have sprung up in close proximity to defence establishments.

Sources said that the Army authorities had agreed that they will not disturb any “repair construction activity on existing buildings within prohibited zone,” and that if people wanted to take up new constructions within 500 metres of the defence area, they have to apply for permission and a ‘No Objection Certificate’ from the defence authorities that will be given within three months from the date of application.

-via Deccan Chronicle

Turf-Club fights battle with army

No parking: The signboard put up by the Southern Command prohibiting civilians from parking vehicles in the club

Adnan Attarwala.

Alleging usurping of club land, around 3,000 members of Royal Western India Turf Club send letter to Defence Minister Antony.

An ongoing dispute between the army authorities and the members of the Royal Western India Turf Club (RWITC) escalated to new heights with about 3,000 members of the club sending a letter to Defence Minister A K Antony against alleged harassment by the army authorities.

The members have been accusing the army of usurping the plot and dispensing it as part of superannuation benefits to retired defence officers. They claimed that the army under the command of Lt Gen AK Singh and Major Gen Anirudha C is resorting to illegal tactics as they have fenced off the open space at the club and put up a board prohibiting members to park their vehicles.

“The said portion of land is of no specific use for any army activity and this conduct of the army is anti-public. There’s only one entrance for the civilians to enter the club of 100 yards where they have been prohibited to park. The army just wants to grab the land and stop horse racing which is going on for the past 100 years,” said a member and lawyer, Prakash Bhoge.

The government had executed a lease deed in 1907 in favour of the club, granting certain rights to it for conducting horse races and other activities on the area, which is about 111 acres. The club falls within the jurisdiction of the Pune Cantonment Board.

Later, out of total area, about 65.5 acre was given on lease to the army. The club members, who claim to have documents to prove their possession, allege that the army authority wants to usurp the race course for their own benefits and stop racing activities.

The army authorities refuted the allegations in a release. They said that the army had taken control of its assets to avoid the claims made by the club members who want to take possession of 65 acre of defence land. It has also accused the club of violating several cantonment laws.

-via Mid Day

Koraput villagers ‘harassed’ by BSF men

Satyanarayan Pattnaik.

People from several villages in Koraput’s Boipariguda block have accused Border Security Force (BSF) personnel of unnecessarily harassing them.

At a meeting held in Mantriambo village recently, the villagers expressed their anger with the personnel posted in the area for anti-Naxalite operations. “While I was going to my paddy field, BSF personnel obstructed me on my way and abused me on false charges of putting up Maoist posters although I have no links with the Red rebels,” said Laxman Halwa of Dumuriguda village.

Another villager, Rajendra Pujari, said, “We are being unnecessarily harassed by the BSF personnel. They assault us on suspicion of being Maoists supporters. If the securitymen do not refrain from harassing villagers, we will intensify our agitation.” The tribals, who had to go deep in the forest for collecting minor forest produce like firewood and for agricultural works, are being subjected to harassment by the security men on suspicion of being Maoist supporters, they alleged.

Koraput SP Anup Kumar Sahoo said, “I have not received any complaint against the security personnel deployed in Boipariguda block. If I do, I shall inquire into the allegations.”

-via The Times of India.